Tiers Of Government
To Fund Police For 5 years
Chizoba Anuforom, Enugu
The
three tiers of government in Nigeria have agreed to contribute
four hundred and twenty billion naira yearly for a period of
five years, to equip and train the police.
The money, to be deducted at source from the Federation
Accounts, in respect of allocations to all tiers of government,
will be disbursed to the police to procure equipment and for
capacity building of officers and men.
The funding and disbursement are to be supervised by Acting
President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Chairman, Police Service Commission, Mr. Parry Osayande,
announced this new funding arrangement in Enugu, during an
inspection of police formations in eastern Nigeria and
assessment of performance of officers.
An Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim said
the new funding arrangement would help to revitalise the
declining standards in the police force.
Repositioning
Speaking on the need to re position the police, Osayande said
that strong policing could only be achieved through funding,
tenable manpower, proper training and re-training of officers.
He said the Police Service Commission was ready to take the bull
by the horns, to turn around the declining situation in the
police force. One of the strategies it has mapped out to achieve
its objectives is a plan to upgrade the Police Academy in Kano,
northern Nigeria, to a degree awarding institution.
Osayande said that preliminary preparations had already taken
off to enable the degree programme commence soon.
He said plans were also on to build two more police colleges in
Benin, Edo state, Southern Nigeria and Nassarawa in Nasarawa
state, Central Nigeria.
Osayande said that the Enugu and Ikeja Police Colleges would
soon be upgraded to international standards.
He said that negotiations were on to hire the services of
foreign security experts to train police officers on modern
techniques of policing.
The senior police command officers are touring the thirty-six
states of the country and have already visited twenty-five
states.
Williams/Yinka
