Top police officers holding strategic positions in Nigeria are undergoing special refresher course in Lagos, obviously to prepare them for the complex nature in today’s crime control.
The officers include all Commissioners of Police, Assistant Inspectors General of Police, and Deputy Inspectors General of Police.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, who declared the course open today, October 29, said that the course is meant to take a holistic evaluation of the current internal security threats and crime dynamics in the country, identify factors engendering crimes, and project into the future.
“This is with a view to identifying human capacity requirements for addressing current and emerging threats to our internal security and evolving pathways towards addressing such.”
He said that the programme is also expected to avail participating Police Officers of the opportunity to draw on the expertise of seasoned facilitators and the rich professional knowledge of the array of police officers here gathered. We shall also leverage on the network to be established towards enhancing peer-review towards engendering a broader understanding of our mandate and enhance our operational capacity.
The Inspector General, noted that there is a strong correlation between personnel capacity and organizational performance, adding that this fact is more evident in the Nigeria Police Force, given the increasingly complex and dynamic nature of crime that the officers grapple with daily.
He also looked at the risks they are regularly exposed to, and their obligation to perform their duties within the dictates of the law.
“The inter-mix of these requires the constant acquisition of professional knowledge by all police personnel, particularly, those at strategic management level. This is with a view to acquiring the capacity to dissect threats, appreciate complex security and crime situations, and take decisions, at times in split seconds, towards neutralising such threats or resolving identified crimes.”
The police boss stressed that the idea of the Retreat is “in furtherance to our policing vision which emphasizes capacity building as a pathway to enhancing effective police service delivery in the country. We firmly believe that with the constant engagement of strategic managers and consistent training and retraining of personnel of the Force across all ranks, the expectation of the Federal Government and indeed, the nation at large for a Police Force that is knowledge-driven, rule of law-guided, community-oriented, technology-compliant, and intelligence-led shall be achieved.
“Through a professional forum of this nature, the personnel of the Nigeria Police shall be expected to acquire a high-level of professionalism and competence required to neutralize any threat to our national security and give meaning to the Constitutional provision that ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government’.”
The police boss reassured Nigerians of the determination and clear vision to evolve a new Police Force for the nation, and to explore all available strategies in guaranteeing their security and safety.
“This is our Mandate. It is, therefore, our obligation to attain it. We, however, solicit the continued support of the citizens in the process.”
