The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigeria Police Force (NPF)

  • Armed conflicts: Nigeria to implement ECOWAS trans-human movement

    Armed conflicts: Nigeria to implement ECOWAS trans-human movement

    The Federal Government Thursday said it has domesticated the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Trans-Human Movement Law and would commence its implementation.

    President Muhammadu Buhari stated this at the 2017 National Security Summit organised by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in Abuja.

    Buhari, who was represented by the Minister for Interior, Gen. Abdulraman Dambazau (rtd), said that the domestication became necessary in order to contain menaces of herders, militants and terrorists.

    He said: “ECOWAS protocol on free movement of goods and person has always been there from the word go but there is ECOWAS decision on trans-humans. That is movement from one country to another as herders.

    “The decision is that every country where these trans-humans come, they should prepare reception areas for them and issue them International trans-humans certificates for identification. They would also be monitored so that their movements are known.

    “So, this is an ECOWAS decision that was taken in 1998 but has not been implemented. ECOWAS is trying now to see how they can implement it so as to reduce the conflict going on between herders and farmers.”

    Buhari also attributed increase in crime rate to proliferation of small arms, noting that there were over 10 million illegal small arms in the country a decade ago.

    He said: “I did a research ten years ago and I discovered that over 10 million small arms and weapons were in the country and that was before Boko Haram and Niger Delta crisis.

    “I do not know the quantity as of today but certainly, they must have increased bearing in mind the flow of weapons from North Africa because of the Libyan and Malian crises.”

    Earlier in his address, Buhari said that armed Agro Rangers would be stationed in farms as part of measures to protect agricultural investment, farmers and herders.

    He explained that the move would boost food security, economy and reduce incessant clashes.

    He said government would pursue security governance initiatives that are broad based, adding that it had entered into bilateral and multilateral agreements with other stakeholders to improve nation’s security.

    He assured of government’s support in carrying out institutional reforms and restructuring to revamp police in line with global best practices.

    He said government has launched national  counter terrorism strategy, adding that security management was the responsibility of everyone including the international community.

    Urging states to domesticate the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Buhari said it would assist in harmonsing, punishing any criminal.

    Acknowledging the challenges faced by the police, Buhari noted that there was improved budgetary allocation for the force, urging organised private sector to invest more in security sector as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

    In an aside interview with The Nation, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, said the way out of farmers-herders conflict was for Nigerians to be tolerant with each other.

    He said: “The main way to tackle the issue of herdsmen and farmers is for us to be our brother’s keeper. We grew up in this country and we saw how people migrated to other places and settled peacefully. I think it is just the element of give and take that is lacking and like somebody observed, Nigerians are becoming intolerant of each other. “Until we stop the intolerance and believe that we have to forego something in order to get something, the communal clashes and ethnic disagreements would continue.

    “The reason for the summit is for all stakeholders to assemble and proffer solutions to improving security across the country.”

    Highpoint of the event was the anti-kidnapping, K-9 and anti-explosives simulations exhibited by police operatives.

     

  • Black weekend in Aba, 10 feared dead in auto accident

    Black weekend in Aba, 10 feared dead in auto accident

    It was indeed a black weekend for residents of Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State as over 10 persons were reported dead in a ghastly auto accident that occurred on the Ikot-Ekpene-Aba Expressway.

    The accident which was allegedly caused by a truck carry chippings and was heading into Aba also left many commuters and commercial bus drivers injured leaving people to wail uncontrollably.

    The incident attracted crowd and as well caused heavy traffic jam on the expressway, leaving men and Personnel of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Nigeria Police Force (NPF) with much work of ensuring that there was free flow of human and vehicular movement on the road.

    When our correspondent visited the area, the Mack truck with registration number Bayelsa SAG 115 XA was still at the Waterside Bridge while the commercial bus with registration number Abia EZA 376 YF which was hit by the truck is still trapped beside the Waterside River.

    An eyewitness who narrated the incident to Nation blamed the truck driver for recklessness, stressing that they suspected that the driver who was descending the Ogbor Hill Bridge on a high speed lost control of his vehicle before crashing into the commercial bus and another car in motion, a commercial tricycle and pedestrians on the bridge.

    “The man was coming down the bridge with speed and in the process, lost control of his vehicle. The bus, some keke were here loading their passengers before the accident. The car down the bridge was hit by the truck and the car destroyed the rail before landing into there. I am afraid if there was any passenger inside that car that survived. Another private car was also affected by the accident and I don’t think the passengers survived.

    “The people affected were about 20 or more about 10 persons died. Many people sustained injuries because it happened during the rush hour when the road is always busy with vehicular activities.”

    The eyewitness said that the whereabouts of the truck driver and his conductor were unknown, stressing that they could have abandoned their truck and took to their heels.

    “If the truck driver and the conductor were sighted by the crowd, am sure that they would have been lynched by the crowd who it took the presence of the police and other security agencies to stop them from setting the truck ablaze.

    However, a staff of the FRSC Aba who crave anonymity gave the number of people involved in the accident as 21; 8 females and 13 males.

    According to the source, 10 males and 8 females were injured while three persons died as a result of the accident.

    The source said that the injured persons were receiving medical attention in one of the private hospitals along the Aba-Ikot Ekpene Expressway. This is even as the source credited the cause of the accident to reckless driving.

     

  • Group faults deployment of 221 policemen to Wike

    Group faults deployment of 221 policemen to Wike

    …Urges Interior Minister to probe 32 deaths in Lagos prison

     

    A group, Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE-Nigeria) has faulted claim by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that it recently deployed 221 police personnel for the protection of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

    The group queried the rationale behind such deployment of security personnel to an individual in a society where majority of the citizens are expose to insecurity.

    CURE-Nigeria has also written the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau over the reported death of 32 inmates in a Lagos prison in a year.

    On the large number of policemen attached to Wike, the group, in a statement by its Executive Director, Sylvester Uhaa, said the attachment of such large number of policemen to a governor with access to monthly security vote, was an indication that the security of the poor did not matter to the state.

    “This deployment is a clear indication that the lives and security of the masses do not matter, and that the Police Force is committed to protecting the rich and the powerful at the expense of the masses, who need more protection by law enforcement because they live in the most vulnerable locations and in most vulnerable situations.

    “If this deployment must continue, the NPF owes Nigerians, whose taxes are used to maintain these 221 officers, an explanation on why Governor Wike should have this number of police officers attached to him, while millions of Nigerians are left unprotected,” it said.

    On the death in Lagos prison, CURE-Nigeria urged the Minister of Interior to ensure enhanced deployment of health and other necessary facilities to the nation’s prisons to avert such avoidable death in future.

    “We call on you (the Minister) to take immediate and proactive steps to decongest the nation’s overcrowded prisons and juvenile centres and to eliminate to the barest minimum, the use of prolonged pre-trial detention of suspects.

    “We want to state here that the continued detention of suspects for years in the most dehumanising and deplorable conditions, leading to their death reminds us of the Nazi’s death chambers, and we wonder if that is what our country has turned our prisons into.

    “CURE-Nigeria wishes to state that the Nigerian justice system is not a justice system at all because it is crudely and disproportionately unjust against the poor and seeks to protect the interest of the rich and the powerful. Such a system cannot be said to be just,” it said.

  • Policeman sues IGP, others over unpaid wages

    Policeman sues IGP, others over unpaid wages

    The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris and two others have been sued by a retired policeman, Uduak Sunday Akpan for allegedly withholding his salaries and other entitlements.

    The suit marked: NICN/ABJ/242/2016, filed for Uduak by his lawyer, John Ainetor, before the National Industrial Court (NIC), Abuja, also has as defendants, the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

    Uduak, who retired as a Superintendent of Police (SP) on January 2, 2015, said he was being owed salaries and allowances for 13 months when he was suspended from service.

    The claimant said he joined the NPF on January 7, 1980, but was suspended on July 2, 1997, while the payment of his salaries and emoluments was also withheld until he was reinstated in 2010.

    Uduak stated that his salaries, allowances and emoluments were not paid to him for the period of his suspension, a period of about 13 years.

    He is therefore praying the court for among others, an order directing the defendants to pay him N5, 505,318.00 being the total amount of his unpaid salaries, allowances and emoluments from 2nd July, 1997 to 31st December, 2009.

    The claimant also seeks an order directing the defendants to pay him N10m being damages for the delay and refusal of the defendants to pay his salaries, allowances and emoluments from 2nd July, 1997 to 31st December, 2009.

    He also wants the court to order the defendants to pay him 21 per-cent interests on the judgment sum, from the date of the judgment until full payment of the judgment sum.

    When the case came up for mention yesterday, the defendants were yet to filed their responses, following which Justice Edith Agbakoba adjourned to March 22 for hearing.

  • Umahi urges Police to streamline arrest procedure

    Umahi urges Police to streamline arrest procedure

    Ebonyi state Governor David Umahi has called on the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to sreamline its operations especially as it relates to arrest to prevent loss of lives and wastage of funds.He made the call on Wednesday when the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 6 Calabar, Abubakar Marafar paid him a courtesy call in Abakaliki, the state capital.
    He made the call on Wednesday when the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 6 Calabar, Abubakar Marafar paid him a courtesy call in Abakaliki, the state capital.
    The governor said because there was no streamlined operations in the transfer of cases, criminals and dangerous elements have in the past capitalise on this to abduct people in the state posing as officers from Force Headquarters Abuja.
    “We have a structure of the police post, the local government headquarters, the zonal headquarters and the national headquarters. So, we find it very strange a situation in which somebody can write a petition and our system is such that when you write a petition, nobody asks you to substantiate it but, people will go ahead to effect an arrest. While doing the arrest especially from Abuja, the lives of the people are in danger.
    “A situation where people dress in Police uniforms from Abuja and come down here to arrest people is worrisome. We are pleading that the organigram of the police should be followed so that before a matter is crossed to a zone, let it be a matter that will be transmitted by the CP of a state to the zone based on fact that the complainant was not satisfied with the way the petition was treated at that level and from zone it should start going to the national headquarter.
    “By this way, the society will have more confidence in the police and it will enable us to have a transparent system. Sometimes an arrest is meant for punishing people, a means of distracting people but I always say that in anything we do, we should always have the fear of God because whatever a man sowet no matter the religion, the person must have to reap it,” the Governor said.
    Speaking earlier, AIG Marafar said he was in the state to thank the Governor for the facilities he has provided for the Police.
    He named the facilities to inclue: provision of security infomation system at all local governments of the state, renovation of the police headquarters Abakaliki and provision of street lights inside the headquarters.
    He reiterated the resolve of the police to check crime and criminalities in the state and the one even as he called fo support of the populace to do so.
  • Police, DSS urge INEC to postpone Edo guber poll

    Police, DSS urge INEC to postpone Edo guber poll

    The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Department of State Services (DSS) on Wednesday appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the Edo governorship election scheduled for Sept. 10, citing security threat.

    The Force Spokesman, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Don Awunah, made the call at a joint news conference by the police and the DSS in Abuja.

    He said that credible intelligence available to the agencies indicated plans by insurgent and extremist elements to attack vulnerable communities and soft targets.

    Awunah said that Edo was among the states being earmarked for the planned attacks by the extremists between Sept. 12 and 13 respectively.

    He said that while election was important, security agencies cannot allow the peace of the country to be disrupted.

    ” We will continue to be vigilant and ensure consolidation of the successes gained in the current counter-insurgency fight.

    “It is in these regard that we are appealing to INEC which has the legal duty to regulate elections in the country to consider the need for possible postponement of the date of the election,” he said.

    He said that the postponement would afford security agencies to deal decisively with the envisaged terrorist threats.

    “While the police and DSS remain mindful of the inconveniences this request may cause stakeholders, it is our strong resolve that security agencies need not to be distracted from ensuring a peaceful Nigeria,” he said.

    The spokesman assured Nigerians that security agencies in the country would continue to remain focused and committed.

    “The attention of security agencies should be drawn to any observed unusual movements or actions by groups or individuals in your neighbourhoods,” he said.

     

  • Police spends N600m on dogs

    Police spends N600m on dogs

    The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr Solomon Arase, has said that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had spent over N600 million on the procurement and maintenance of foreign dogs in the last few years.

    Arase made the disclosure at the inauguration of the Police Dog Breeding Centre and Ultra Modern Mounted Troop in Abuja on Thursday.

    “This is certainly not sustainable in the face of the current dwindling resources,” he said.

    The IG said that so much money was being spent on the importation of dogs from foreign countries that rarely adapted to the country’s policing objective.

    He said that the projects inaugurated were funded within the budgetary provisions of the Force Animal Branch.

    Arase said that the force animal branch had remained under utilised in the past while the force continued to rely on importation of dogs and other animals for its operations.

    He said that the centre was built to aid the police acquire capacity to locally breed police dogs as well as support other security agencies in the country.

    The Police boss said that the centre if effectively utilised, would save the nation some foreign exchange that would have gone into procurement of dogs from foreign countries.

    The IG said that the centre had the capacity to breed and supply police dogs to the entire West African sub-region.

    “It is projected that at optimal breeding capacity, it can produce well above 200 dogs per year,” he said.

    He said that the establishment of the facilities was part of the long term strategies aimed at restoring police primacy and aligning it to best global standards.

    In a remark, the Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, said the projects were timely considering the current security challenges facing the country.

    Dambazau said that Nigerians deserved a police that was competent and reliable.

    He said that the projects would not only reduce spending but would also provide job opportunities for other Nigerians aside from the police.

    The high point of the occasion was a display by police dogs and award presentation to the Minister of Interior, Arase, and Mr Mike Okiro, Chairman, Police Service Commission, among other.