By Moses Omorogieva
Lagos – A retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), Mr Israel Ajao, has said that regular capacity building for the members of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) will help the force to fight crimes as expected.
Ajao said this on Thursday in Lagos during the Close-Out Meeting and Award Ceremony by the Nigeria Policing Programme (NPP), a British Council sponsored project for safety, security issues and police accountability in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NPP had begun the programme in Nigeria since 2018.
It has:
promoting security, safety, well funded NPF, strengthening police professionalism, supporting community policing , better relationship between police, CSOs and various communities as its objectives.
Ajao, who is also the Chairman of the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC), said the Nigeria Police would perform better if they were regularly trained.
He said this was because crime was dynamic, so also that the challenges facing the force were increasing by the day.
“I cannot pretend that all is well with the NPF.
“There is the need for the police to look at themselves in-house and see if they are doing what they were employed and doing what they were being paid to do.
“The challenges are increasing, but they can be surmounted.
“If we carry out capacity building in the police , they can make positive impact on the security situation in Nigeria.
NPP’s programme has helped to address some of the challenges.
“Let policing become home grown. Community policing is relevant to our society.
“That is where LNSC operations come in. We cannot effectively police our society without local intelligence reports, ” he said.
The Deputy Team Leader of NPP, Mr Idris Bawa, said that the programme was for two years.
He said that within the period, remarkable achievements were recorded as the police, civil society organisations and other security agencies became united.
Bawa said the programme might have come to an end, but it’s positive impact on the stakeholders such as police, CSOs, PCRC would see to the continuation of the programme in the state.
Also, the coordinator of the Stakeholders’ Police Accountability Forum, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, said the programme had increased the capacity of the police, CSOs, media and community leaders.
Nwanguma noted that prior to NPP, the police and CSOs were always seeing each other as enemies, stressing that the case had changed for the better now.
He said all that the police, CSOs, community leaders and other security agencies learnt from NPP would help to combat security challenges in Nigeria, and in Lagos in particular.
Also, the South-West zonal coordinator of the Nigeria Human Rights Commission, Mr Lucas Konyejo,commended the United Kingdom (UK) for sponsoring theprogramme in Nigeria.
He said that the programme had brought many good things to the country’s security situation.
Some individuals and organisations received awards for supporting the programme.
They include: DIG Israel Ajao, CP Imohimin Edgal, former CP in Lagos, and Patricia Ama of Anthony Division in Lagos. (NAN)