By Ibukun Emiola
An NGO, CLEEN, has partnered the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to build capacity of officers of the Nigerian Police Force on security management during the 2023 general elections.
Declaring the event open in Ibadan on Monday, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Williams, said that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Alkali Baba, at a recent training, highlighted the responsibilities of law enforcers.
Baba enjoined the officers to be open-minded to unlearn, learn and relearn.
“It is worthy to note that the primacy of the Nigeria Police Force, as the lead agency in securing the nation’s electoral process and indeed the entire security architecture could not be argued.
“During your programme, you would all be exposed to enhanced operational capabilities and purposeful coordination of intelligence with relevant sister agencies and communication management with relevant stakeholders.
“These include, but not limited to the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Inter-Agency Consultative Committee (ICCES).
“The training is to ensure that capacity of the officers was optimised and it is part of the series of training organised by the Inspector-General of Police,” he said.
The police chief said that the training would reposition the officers psychologically and prepare them for the task ahead.
Also, a facilitator and a Retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, Fimihan Adeoye, said essence of the training was to prepare the officers for effective service delivery before, during and after the elections.
“It is to enhance their capabilities to discharge their statutory duties effectively to the extent that a conducive environment would be provided for peaceful conduct of the electoral process,” Adeoye said.
He said that political stability was vital to every aspect of national life, which further underscored the importance of the training.
Commenting, Mr Gabriel Akinremi, on behalf of CLEEN Foundation, said the event was on election security management.
According to Akinremi, it is imperative to engage the police in the training.
He said that the participants were drawn from different states in western Nigeria.
“We are here to discuss how to manage and police elections; pre, post and during the conduct of the 2023 elections.
“Police is one of our primary key stakeholders and having conducted security threat assessment, we try to find out some areas that are hotspot as well as issues and opinions of the citizens in relations to elections.
“And, as we go to 2023 elections, CLEEN Foundation will also have the security threat assessment in local government across Nigeria,” Akinremi said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the five days training for Divisional Police Officers on Election Security Management in Nigeria would end on Nov.18. 2022. (NAN)
