…Tasks Police Trust Fund to send police personnel on training programs
The Minister of Police Affairs, Dr. Ibrahim Gaidam has said the country needs a professional police force to effectively tackle terrorism and banditry in the country.
He said that all stakeholders and the managers of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) should rise to the challenge and equip the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) with requisite professional training that will enable the Force to tackle terrorists, kidnappers, and other associated crimes in the country.
Gaidam made the call during the official briefing of the Ministers on the activities of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) by the Executive Secretary Abdullahi Bala at the Ministry Headquarters in Abuja.
Responding to issues of inadequate funding for overseas professional training programme for police personnel in the country, the minister tasked (NPTF) to ensure that the process of training officers is strictly managed within the available funds rather than jettisoning essential training of police personnel.
“Instead of waiting to send 20 personnel abroad, you can send 10 that can be accommodated within available funds rather than jettison crucial professional training abroad that will impact their output to the nation.
“The Executive Secretary and his team should come up with a strategic plan on sending personnel on training outside the country while continuing to patronize local training available in the country.
“We need to send some of our personnel outside Nigeria to get highly sophisticated training that would enable them to tackle crimes in the country”.
He recalled his bitter experience with Boko Haram in Bornu State in 2009 when the insurgency began before it spread to Yobe State in 2011, adding that as the then governor of the state, it was not easy handling the situation even though policemen and military personnel were drafted to hand it without success.
Gaidam said the country needs to get well-trained personnel that will deal decisively with terrorists and kidnappers.
In her contributions, the Minister of State, Police Affairs Hajia Imaan Sulaima-Ibrahim stated that in perfecting statecraft, international norms and best practices will be deployed in training and retraining, to standardize operations, to upgrade infrastructure, master working tools in order to strengthen the professionalism of security personnel.
She said, “It has to be standardized and tailored towards what will work for the police ecosystem and our population.
“It should not be about procurement alone but strategy planning that will focus on professionalism, patriotism, and transparency because our sector is one of the priority plans of Mr. President and it is critical to the country’s security
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of (NPTF), Abdullahi Bala, had enumerated the challenges of his organization concerning the delay in the take-off of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund activities from June 2019 to May 2020; the delay in budget approval, some inconsistencies in the (NPTF Act 2019), the commencement date, problems of 0.005% levy and its collection from companies.
He also pointed out that all the training programmes have been successfully executed and for the construction and Rehabilitation of Police Offices and Barracks, one hundred and eight (109) projects have been completed (100%), while thirty (30) projects are near completion (70-90%), and twenty-eight (28) projects are still on-going (01 – 69%).