FG Recruited 40,000 Police Officers in Four Years, Says Buhari

Okon Bassey

No fewer than 40,000 police officers have been recruited by the federal government in the last four years in an effort to re-energise and improve the force in order to tackle increasing security challenges in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Uyo, while declaring open a two-day retreat for senior police officers, adding that he also granted accent to the Nigerian Police Trust Fund and carried out an upward review of salaries and allowances of rank and file in a bid to boost the morale of the Force.

Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of Police Affairs, Dr. Maigari Dingyadi, said other efforts aimed at improving service delivery in the force initiated by the federal government included a taskforce on need evaluation of the Nigerian Police headed by Vice President Osibanjo as well as accent to the Nigerian Police Regulatory Bill 2020.

The president lauded the two arms of the National Assembly for their support to the force assuring that the federal government would continue to accord priority to efforts aimed at re-engineering and re-equipping the police to tackle increasing and complex security challenges of the country.

“An opportunity for a professionally driven police force is critical to national cohesion and socio economic development. It is in recognition of this that this administration has prioritised the reforms, re-equipping and re-engineering of the Nigerian Police, being the lead agency in the internal security architecture of our dear country,” he stressed.

The president commended the Nigerian Governors Forum for their support to the Police, Akwa Ibom State government for hosting the conference and expressed belief that the conference would engender a new policing focus and project a new united front against elements threatening the unity and corporate existence of Nigeria.

Earlier, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba in his remarks said the second conference and retreat for Senior Police Officers was borne out of leadership focus which emphasised capacity building as a pathway to re-invigorating strategic leadership capacity towards the enhancement of optimal police service delivery. Baba said the senior police officers would utilise the forum to review policing vision, mission and strategies as laid out following his appointment as the 21st indigenous Inspector General of Police as well to assess the police reform initiatives of the federal government and the force leadership.

According to him, any organisation without a vision was bound to fail, saying the retreat would align the officers with the current and evolving policing and internal security realities.

The IGP said the conference would also avail the senior police officers an opportunity to broaden their knowledge on the cotton edge technology on new policing strategies.

“The 2022 edition is the second in the series and it is a follow-up to the first edition which was hosted by the Lagos State government in 2019.

“The programme could not hold in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The retreat and conference for strategic police managers was borne out of our leadership focus which emphasises capacity building as a pathway to re-invigorating our strategic leadership capacity towards the enhancement of optimal police service delivery.”

On his part, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State urged the security agencies to do away with rivalry, collaborate and synergise to ensure effective and efficient security architecture.

Fayemi who doubles as the Chairman of Governors’ Forum advocated for what he described as a multi-level policing to ensure efficiency. He, however gave the assurance that the governors were ready at all times to support the police to enable them accomplish the task of securing the country.

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel urged participants to evolve more proactive ways of addressing the security challenges in the country especially as the nation prepares for the general elections next year.

Emmanuel also urged participants to look into reasons why more young people in the country were involved in criminality now than before so as to firmly address the menace in order to safe the future since the youth are future leaders.

Emmanuel expressed optimism that the conference would bring out a fertilised ideas that would enhance better policing, given the arrays of resources persons to the Retreat.