President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has charged the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to use daily interaction and influence with citizens across all walks of life to foster social integration by being fair, just and firm to both the complaint and the accused.
He stated this during the opening of the conference and retreat for senior police officers with a theme Fostering Economic Prosperity, Social Integration and Political Development through Enhanced Internal Security Mechanism held in Owerri in Imo State.
In a statement by Deputy Director (Press), Bolaji O. Kazeem, the President represented by Minister of Police Affairs Ibrahim Gaidam, encouraged senior officers of the Nigeria Police Force to be relentless in their service to the nation adding that as a public institution, they will be thoroughly scrutinised and criticised.
“But this must not discourage or deter you from discharging your duty as security managers,” he stressed.
Tinubu pointed out that as one of Nigeria’s enduring assets and treasure, the police continue to produce sterling performances at various peacekeeping missions.
He noted that insecurity has adversely affected the nation’s economic growth, and security threats in the Niger Delta region largely affected the daily crude oil output of the country thereby depriving the nation of much-needed revenue.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun stated that the conference and retreat represent the broadest, most diverse and rich professional engagement of senior police officers in the country.
He said the Special Intervention Force (SIF) was created to deal with stringent state security challenges noting that concrete steps have been taken to facilitate the smooth takeoff of (SIF) in the ten pilot states already identified based on the recent assessment carried out in all the 36 states and FCT.
The keynote speaker, the President of INTERPO, Major General Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi commended the police for making Nigeria safer and more secure to everyone adding that NPF play a key role in tackling regional and international crimes.
He said due to its strategic location Nigeria attracts organized crimes and through joint operations with other West African countries, they were able to arrest over 1000 criminals worldwide on human trafficking and smuggling.
“We were able to identify criminal networks that led to financial losses. 40 suspects were arrested and 40,000 suspicious cyber networks were identified,” Al-Raisi noted.
