Raheem Akingbolu
The Nigerian Police has officially adopted Binggo dog food to further avoid spending huge sum of money on importation of dogs and its food.
The Marketing Manager Grand Cereal, Tope Banjo disclosed that Binggo dog food provides quality nutrition for dogs making them smart, healthy and active, stating that Binggo dog food is also fresh because it is locally produced as against foreign dog food brands which spend weeks on the sea before reaching Nigeria, thereby, losing its freshness and taste.
He said: “Binggo Dog Food comes in Chicken flavour and packed in 15kg adult and 5kg puppy bags. Binggo Dog Food is produced by Grand Cereals Ltd., leading producer of animal and edible feeds brand like Vital Fish Feed, Vital Poultry Feed and Grand Pure Soya Oil. Grand Cereals Ltd., a subsidiary of UAC of Nigeria Plc., began production of Binggo Dog Food in 2015.”
The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase said the Binggo dog food will be the official food for the Nigerian breed Police dogs.
The Inspector General of Police disclosed this during the commissioning of Nigeria Police Dog breeding center at Dei-dei, Abuja.
He said the immeasurable anti-crime opportunities, which abound in the force animal branch have remained underutilised, while the force continued to rely on importation of dogs and other animals to advance the attainment of its mandate.
“Huge funds were being expended on importation of dogs from foreign countries, yet some of these dogs rarely adapt to our policing climes. In fact, records show that the Nigeria Police force has spent over six hundred million naira in the last few years just on the procurement and maintenance of these foreign dogs. This is certainly not sustainable especially in the face of current dwindling resources.
“The construction of the dog breeding centre was therefore conceptualised to aid the Nigeria Police acquire capacity to locally breed police dogs and self-reliant in dog breeding and maintenance in a cost effective manner, while saving the nation some foreign exchange that would otherwise have gone into the sourcing of such operational dogs from foreign countries.
“The initiative was designed to support the operational dog requirement of sister law enforcement organisations and the Armed forces as well as breeding of friendly puppies for the civilian population on commercial basis. This is with the intention of evolving the centre into a self-sustaining dog breeding centre as practiced in other policing climes.
“The breeding centre being commissioned today has the capacity to conveniently breed and supply police dogs to the entire West African Sub-Region and it is projected that at optimal breeding capacity it can produce well above 200 dogs per year.”
The IG said with the commissioning procurement of dogs for policing activities from foreign countries would become a thing of the past, and the Nigeria Police will in no distant future take its place of pride among nations with professional K-9 ability.
