Minister Urges NPTF To Equip Police With Professional Training

Minister of police affairs, Dr Ibrahim Gaidam, has charged the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF), to equip the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), with both local and foreign sophisticated professional training to enable them to tackle terrorists, kidnappers and other high crimes in the country.

He made this known during the official briefing of the minister and minister of state on the activities of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund by the executive secretary in Abuja, yesterday.

Spokesperson of the ministry, Bolaji Kazeem said the minister while speaking on funding issues of the professional training for police personnel outside the country, urged NPTF to ensure that the process of training officers is strictly managed within the available funds rather than jettison necessary training for police personnel.

In his words, “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”.

The minister recalled the problem of Boko Haram that started in BornoState in 2009 before it spread to Yobe State in 2011 when he was the governor, noting that it was not easy then despite the collaboration of both policemen and the military.

In her contributions, the minister of state, police affairs, Hajia ImaanSulaima-Ibrahim said training, “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 strategic  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 national security of the country.”

Earlier, the executive secretary, of Nigeria Police Trust Fund, AbdullahiBala pointed out that all the training programmes have been successfully executed and for the construction and rehabilitation of police offices and barracks, 109 projects have been completed 100 per cent, while 30 projects are near completion with about 70 to 90 per cent completion rates, and 28 projects that are still ongoing with 01 – 69 per cent completion.