Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu has pledged to collaborate with the Nigeria Police Trust Fund to renovate the Police College in Oji River and the Police Detective College in Enugu City.
The governor said that this partnership will help restore these training institutions as centres of excellence and will strengthen the fight against crime and insecurity.
Mbah made this announcement during a visit to the Government House in Enugu by the management of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund, led by the Executive Secretary, Mohammed Sheidu, and senior officials from the Nigeria Police, including Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Training, DIG Frank Mba, on Tuesday, October 8.
“We see security as our number one priority in the state. The reason is that we have a great ambition as to how our economy can grow and we do not see that happening without the private sector; and naturally, the private sector is not designed to absorb security risk. They can take other finance and commercial risks, but not security.
“So, we are pleased that we are having this engagement with you because there are some alignments in objectives here where you are proposing to build the capacity and welfare of the police personnel.
“We also believe that crime-fighting has gone beyond just standing on the road and waiting for criminals to be hunted. I think there is quite a lot that technology allows us to accomplish in the area of crime prevention and crime fighting. Therefore, we have invested hugely in the provision of some of the most modern and state-of-the-art security infrastructure here. We invested in the security surveillance camera system. The CCTV is AI-embedded and helps us to track criminals through our Distress Response Squad, DRS.
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“We have also been able to train the officers working directly under the DRS. But we think we still have a lot more to do and even hearing you talk about the Police Detective College, it is for us to come back now to focus and see how we can revive that training institute.
“So, the training and the two reasons for which you are here fit perfectly into what we also hope to accomplish. We are indeed ready and more than happy to partner with you,” Mbah stated.
Sheidu said the team was in Enugu State as part of an ongoing nationwide assessment of police training institutions, noting that the Police College, Oji River, and the Police Detective College had played critical roles in producing some of the finest officers in the Nigeria Police and needed to be restored to their old glories.