Posted by Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, the minister of police affairs, has urged the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) to provide the Nigeria Police Force with advanced professional training from both home and abroad so they can combat terrorism, abduction, and other serious crimes in the nation.
The Executive Secretary of NPTF, Alhaji Abdullahi Bala, briefed Gaidam and the Minister of State, Hajia Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, on Tuesday at the ministry’s Abuja headquarters, according to the Deputy Director of Press, Bolaji Oladimeji.
He encouraged the NPTF to make sure that the process of training officers is tightly handled within the available finances rather than foregoing necessary training for police personnel in response to financing concerns for professional training for police personnel outside the country.
“Rather than waiting to send 20 individuals abroad, you can send 10 who can be accommodated within the available budget instead of forgoing essential professional training abroad that will affect their contribution to the nation, he said.
“The Executive Secretary and his staff should develop a strategic strategy for sending individuals on training assignments outside of the nation while continuing to support local training opportunities offered within the nation. Some of our employees must be sent outside of Nigeria to receive extremely specialized training so they can combat crime there.
The minister recalled the Boko Haram issue that first surfaced in Borno State in 2009 before spreading to Yobe State in 2011, when he was governor, noting that it was difficult at the time despite the military and police working together and the requirement for hiring well-trained personnel who will deal firmly with terrorists and kidnappers.
The Minister of State stated in her remarks that in order to improve statecraft, operations will be standardized, infrastructure will be updated, and work tools will be developed to increase the professionalism of security personnel. International norms and best practices will also be used in training and retraining programs.
It needs to be uniformed and targeted to what will benefit the police environment and our community. Since our industry is one of the President’s top priorities and is essential to national security, strategy planning should not just focus on procurement but also on professionalism, patriotism, and transparency, according to Hajia Sulaiman-Ibrahim.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of NPTF noted that all training programs had been successfully completed, and for the construction and rehabilitation of police offices and barracks, 108 projects had been successfully completed (100%); thirty (30) projects were nearing completion (70-90%); and twenty-eight (28) projects were still in progress (01-69%).
He listed the difficulties his organization faced with regard to the NPTF activities’ postponement from June 2019 to May 2020, the delay in the Fund’s annual budget approval, some inconsistencies in the NPTF Act, 2019, such as the start date, and issues with the 0.005% levy and its collection from Nigerian businesses, among other issues.