BEVERLY HILLS, September 21, (THEWILL) – The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr Ibrahim Idris, has declared that the force would no longer deploy personnel of the Police Mobile Force (PMF) to guard individuals.
The IG made this known on Wednesday, at a meeting with Commanders of the Police Mobile Force (PMF), Special Protection Unit (SPU) and the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) in Abuja.
“Therefore, in line with these responsibilities, it will be against force policy to deploy police mobile force personnel to guard individuals or fragment their personnel into smaller units,” he said.
“The Police Mobile Force, Special Protection Unit and the Counter Terrorism Unit are currently undergoing reorganisation and restructuring in accordance with their responsibilities.
“We have put in motion strategy to ensure that mobile force personnel are gradually replaced with special protection personnel who were saddled with the responsibility of close protection of important personalities.”
“It is therefore important that we as a nation ensure that our special police units are given adequate training and resources to enable them carry out their responsibilities.”
“In order to enhance the capability of the special protection personnel, they would be stationed in all police commands as against zonal commands.”
The IG restated his administration’s resolve to ensure that all police training facilities operated optimally adding that the force was also proposing the establishment of a Police SPU training school for enhanced service delivery.
“We would seek the support of the Nigerian Navy to establish a marine police training school in Bayelsa to enable the police dominate the creeks of Niger Delta region.
“The measures being taken by the force would enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the police and address the major security challenges in the country,” he declared.
Idris reminded the police commanders of the core values of integrity, accountability, and respect for diversity and advised them to operate within the concept of democratic policing to be responsive to the yearnings of the citizens.
“Any violation of these measures would be punished by the police management. In the coming days, we are going to start looking closely at our officers to ensure that they carry out these measures being put in place by the senior police management,” he said.
Story by David Oputah
About the Author
