The Police Service Commission (PSC) said on Saturday that a four day Management retreat to reposition the Commission for effective oversight and mandate delivery begins at the Protea hotel in Benin City, Edo state on Monday, November 20, 2023.
The Retreat with the support of United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP), is expected to deliver an action plan for the Commission which will assist in its oversight of the Police especially in its Reform Programme, PSC spokesman Ikechukwu Ani said in a statement on Saturday.
The Commission believes that it will need to internally reform itself before it can effectively lead the challenge of reforming the Police for effective service delivery.
The Retreat will attract all the Management Team of the Commission including its Directors and Heads of Departments; select senior Police Officers tangential to the assignment; Ministry of Police Affairs; Human Rights Commission; Civil Society Organisations, the United Nations delegation and Association of Retired Police Officers. Others are the UN Women, RULAC, the Academics and the End SARS group.
Commission Chairman, Dr. Solomon Arase, retired Inspector General of Police and the convener of the Retreat said the first two days will be devoted to creating an enabling environment for the Commission and its friends to do Strength,Weaknesses,Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis on its mandate looking at its strength, weaknesses and future threats.
Dr. Arase said the Commission wants to put its house in order so as to assist the Police succeed in its lead role in the nation’s internal security.
” we will look at what has worked in the Commission, the challenges, the draw backs and with our eminent and distinguished invitees put together a working document for efficient and effective oversight of the Police”.
He said the third and fourth days will be used to critically re-examine the Police Regulations which has not been touched since 1940s and which has since become obsolete and at variance with the Police ACT of 2020.
The PSC Chairman said that despite various attempts to work on it, no fundamental changes have been effected so far.
He promised that the Commission will continue to develop policies for the overall benefit of the Nigeria Police and will work side by side with other relevant stakeholders and non- state actors for effective service delivery.