ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The governor of Enugu State and Chairman of the National Economic Council’s committee on the overhaul of police and other security training institutions in Nigeria says President Bola Tinubu has declared an emergency on the institutions as part of the government’s efforts to tackle criminality and security challenges across the country.
Mbah said the initiative to revamp the security training institutions across the country was consequent upon the president’s proposal to the 152nd meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC, a fortnight ago, where he expressed deep concerns over the poor state of the facilities nationwide.
The governor, who spoke on Tuesday at the Police Training College, Ikeja, Lagos, during the commencement of the committee’s tour of training facilities for the police and other security agencies nationwide, clarified that the initiative predated and had nothing to do with President Donald Trump’s comments on the security challenges in Nigeria.
He explained that President Tinubu was of the view that the nation could only get the best out of its personnel if they were trained in conducive environments and exposed to 21st-century tuition and equipment.
Mbah assured that the committee, which also has Governors Uba Sani (Kaduna), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Kefas Agbu (Taraba), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), and Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa) as members and former Inspector-General of Police, Baba Usman, as Secretary, would treat the assignment with the seriousness and urgency it demanded.
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Speaking with newsmen, Mbah said, “The president recognises that there is a need for bold and urgent steps to be taken in order to restore the pride, professionalism, and confidence of men and women in the security space.
“In the words of Mr. President, you cannot expect our men and women, who are protecting our communities and are expected to uphold law and order, to be trained in an environment that is inhumane.
“That is not acceptable; that is essentially why we need to address this. This is no knee-jerk reaction or predicated on any reaction. This is a forward-thinking, proactive president, who believes that we have exposed our training institutions to decades of neglect and that there is a need for us to get our training institutions well-equipped. What we have just come here to do validates it.
“This committee has a mandate to report back in 30 days. So, we constituted ourselves into two teams. Members of the team that have gone to visit facilities in the northern states are led by the governor of Nasarawa State.
“Our team will be visiting facilities in the southern states. We are also here with the consultants, who are going to have a deep dive to conduct a deep assessment of what we need to rebuild, equip, and sustain in our training institutions. The president saw this as an emergency.
“There is going to be an intervention for rebuilding and equipping these training institutions. As you know, the president has approved the recruitment of an additional 30,000 policemen and women. And that cannot be implemented if we do not have the institutions and facilities to train these personnel. So, this is an emergency, and we are treating it with the seriousness it deserves.”
He said the revamp would be total to bring serving and prospective Nigerian security agents in sync with the 21st century.
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“We know that we cannot use the system of the 20th century to train our modern 21st-century police force. They need to be imbued with evolving 21st-century skills – Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Mechatronics and all the digital skills that we need to police in the 21st century. So, what we are doing is a comprehensive revamp,” he stated.
Corroborating Mbah’s explanations during an interactive session with the management of the Police Training College, Ikeja, Governor Abiodun said the fact that the committee was made up of governors underscored the president’s passion and seriousness about the matter.
“We have listened to you, and we are conducting an on-the-spot assessment of some of what you have said to us. You can be sure that the intervention is also going to be immediate, because this committee does not have the luxury of time,” he stated.
Speaking, the Commandant of the College, AIG Omolara Oloruntola, lamented that the College, established by the British colonial authorities in 1949, had dilapidated infrastructurally over the years.
She commended President Tinubu for the initiative, saying only an immediate and far-reaching intervention could restore the institution to its past glory.