The Inspector-General of Police, Ag. IGP Usman Alkali Baba has unveiled a new policing vision and crime-fighting strategies for the Nigeria Police Force.
In a statement on Thursday, spokesman for the force Frank Mba noted that the IGP made the new operational protocols public, today, Thursday, 15th April 2021, during the inaugural conference with Zonal Assistant Inspectors General of Police, Commissioners of Police, and other Heads of Police Formations in the country, at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
The highlights of the new policing vision include; deploying cutting-edge policing technology and integrating intelligence-led policing practices to core policing functions, with a view to strengthening police capacity to stabilise the internal security order and restore public confidence in the Force.
The new policing vision equally seeks to, among other things, give full effect to the concept of community policing and deliver quality police service that will be guided by the principles of public accountability and conformity to the rule of law. It will also embrace the social content of policing in which police officers see themselves as compassionate servants and helpers of the citizens.
According to the IGP, the meeting with the Strategic Commanders was convened to discuss strategies to roll back the unacceptable security tide occasioned by the increasing threat to internal security by terror elements, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbery syndicates, and arms traffickers.
The IGP reassured citizens that the Force under his leadership shall evolve a new policing culture where police officers will uphold the rights of the people and work within professional standards. He expressed confidence that in the shortest possible time, the new policing vision and operational strategies would return our beloved nation to the path of public safety, security, and peace.
Meanwhile, as part of the Force reorganizational plans to ensure that its units operate only in the context of their original mandates and remain human rights compliant, humane and people-driven, the IGP has ordered the immediate reforms of the IGP Monitoring Unit and the disbandment of all its satellite offices across the country.
In a related development, the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba, has ordered the immediate disbandment of the IGP Monitoring Satellite Offices in Lagos and Port Harcourt over complaints of harassment and operating beyond their briefs by Nigerians.
The IGP has also banned operatives of the Unit from undertaking criminal investigations including taking over cases from state commands.
Speaking at his maiden meeting with Command Police Commissioners and Zonal AIGs, in Abuja on Thursday, Baba said the ban had become necessary to enable him reorganise and return the Force to basics.
IGP Baba, who also ordered the reformation of the unit, said under the new arrangement, the Unit will now operate within the original mandate which is to investigate complaints of professional infractions that may be alleged against any serving officer and as may be referred to them by his office.
He said “In furtherance to our Force reorganisation plans as well as our commitment to return to the basics in policing, I have directed the immediate reform of the IGP Monitoring Unit.
“This involves the disbandment of the satellite offices of the Unit in Lagos and Port Harcourt, the streamlining of the personnel profile of the Unit at the Force Headquarters to not more than fifty (50) operatives, and the banning of the Unit from undertaking criminal investigations including taking over cases from State Commands.
“Under the current dispensation, the Unit will only operate within their original mandate which is to investigate complaints of professional infractions that may be alleged against any serving officer and as may be referred to them by my Office. Similar repositioning initiatives are being worked out in relation to other ad hoc investigative Units in the Force.
“This is with a view to restore professionalism, address citizens’ concerns on rights abuses resulting from the existence and operations of these ad hoc police investigation Units and to discourage duplication of police functions in a manner that encourages indiscipline and abuse of police process”, he said.
The development is coming 24 hours after the Police Service Commission asked the IGP to check the proliferation of police investigating units. The commission stated that the units were bringing huge embarrassments to the force.
Chairman of the commission, Musiliu Smith, said, there must be proper and close monitoring of police investigative units to stem the atrocities its officials committed in the line of duty.
The retired IGP had also stressed the need to quickly treat cases of misconduct by the officers “so that those found wanting are brought to book”.
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