Federal Govt Begins Police Stations, Barracks Rehabilitation In 15 States, FCT

Minister of Police Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, has said the federal government has commenced the rehabilitation of police stations and barracks in 15 States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at the cost of N15 billion.

The government, he said, is also installing intelligence equipment in zone 1 and 2 headquarters and force headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

At the end of the year briefing in Abuja on the ministry’s achievements, the minister said NPF has upgraded facilities in some training institutions, constructed and provisioned hospitals/health centres, equipped the FCT command, rehabilitated the Police Detective College in Enugu and established the Nigeria Police Cyber Crime Control Centre.

He said the rehabilitation of police stations and barracks in Kebbi, Edo, Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi, Plateau, Abia, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Niger, Sokoto, Ogun, Lagos, FCT, has cost about N5 billion.

The minister said, “The intelligence-led policing paradigm has resulted in the deployment of operational, intelligence, and ICT-based apparatus to stem the tide of crimes and criminalities in Nigeria. Some of these include the maximization of the Force Intelligence Bureau Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT) and the Special Tactical Squad (FIB-STS). The ‘NPF Rescue Me’, an application for emergency response; NPF Crime and Incident Database Centre; the Interpol Cybercrime Reporting platform at incb.npf.gov.ng is available 24/7 for the reportage of cybercrime-related complaints.

“This includes all offences provided for by the Cybercrime Act, of 2015, including the production and distribution of child pornography. The Interpol cybercrime unit is also empowered to mitigate possible cyber-attacks.”

Dingyadi added that tremendous improvement has been recorded in the review of the training curriculum, for the Nigeria police training institutions to align with contemporary policing realities in the country.

In his words, “a proposal is in the pipeline to give legal backing to police training institutions nationwide.  This is geared towards giving them self-accounting status, so as to enhance capabilities of training institutions to produce quality manpower needed to provide 21st-century police services in Nigeria.”