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FRIDAY MARCH 1

REMARKS BY IGP SOLOMON E. ARASE, FDC, NPM, THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE AT THE COMMISSIONING OF THE NIGERIA POLICE LAW COMPLEX, DEPLOYMENT OF LOGISTICS AND THE LAUNCH OF THE ‘SAFER CITY PATROL SC


REMARKS BY IGP SOLOMON E. ARASE, fdc, NPM, THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE AT THE COMMISSIONING OF THE NIGERIA POLICE LAW COMPLEX, DEPLOYMENT OF LOGISTICS AND THE LAUNCH OF THE ‘SAFER CITY PATROL SCHEME’ ON FRIDAY, 18TH MARCH, 2016

 

Protocols

 

       It is with great joy and fulfillment that I stand here today on this auspicious occasion of the commissioning of the newly constructed Nigeria Police Law Complex, the deployment of newly procured logistics to combat crime nationwide and the launch of the ‘Safer City Watch Patrol ‘ Scheme.

  1. Your Excellency, Sir, modern Policing worldwide is a cost-intensive, yet desirable engagement. This is because the value of a citizen’s life is unquantifiable. So, the cost of protecting such a life can therefore, never be defined as excessive. Furthermore, the legitimacy of any government under a democratic setting can best be judged by the extent to which the government demonstrates its willingness and capacity to protect its citizens.
  2. By implication, the Police as an institution, is strategic to the protection of the invaluable life of its citizens, just as it is a critical factor in the advancement of the legitimacy of the State. This explains why every Police manager strives to enhance the institutional capacity of the Police Agency towards attaining its sacred Mandate within the internal security landscape of the country. This also explains why the Federal Government has been persistent in its commitment to the funding and the enhancement of the fortunes of the Nigeria Police with the intent of restoring and maintaining its primacy as the primary law enforcement agency.
  3. In acknowledgement of these realities, Your Excellency, on my appointment as the Inspector-General of Police, I engaged the strengthening of the operational capacity of the Force as one of my thematic policing strategies. I similarly, advanced the concept of rule of law-driven policing. Both strategies require a well-thought out re-equipment programme that will engender massive acquisition and deployment of operational tools to enhance the potency of the Police in delivering quality security services to the citizens. It also requires the repositioning and capacitation of the Legal Department of the Nigeria Police Force to lead the police in playing its critical role within the criminal justice delivery system of the country. The commissioning ceremonies we are about to witness are landmark manifestations of these Policing Visions.
  4. Your Excellency, Sir, today, two critical internal security and criminal justice aims are being achieved. Firstly, the Legal Unit of the Nigeria Police is being effectively restructured, refocused and repositioned to drive the rule of law-led policing vision of the Force Leadership. In this regard, Your Excellency may wish to note that the Nigeria Police Force with over five hundred (500) qualified lawyers, prides itself as one institution with the highest number of lawyers in Nigeria.
  5. In spite of this rich pool of sound legal minds, we have not been able to galvanise them to optimal professional performance. This is because these officers have been operating without library facilities and office space befitting of their noble profession. Yet they are expected to be at the vanguard of criminal prosecution and sustenance of rule of law standards within the Nigeria Police. No Police institution can operate under such standard and be expected to conform to rule of law standards in its operations.
  6. The determination of the Force Leadership to grant Nigeria Police Lawyers the dignity they deserve and to create an enabling environment for them to function optimally, influenced the construction of the Nigeria Police Law Complex. The complex will act as a befitting edifice and National Headquarters for all lawyers in the Nigeria Police Force. Aside having a conventional library wing, efforts are being made to activate an e-library facility. This structure is symbolic of the new thinking of the Force Leadership in relation to advancing democratic and rule of law values in Nigeria.
  7. The second objective of today’s event is to make a clear statement on the determination of the Force Leadership with the firm support of the Federal Government to re-equip and enhance the anti-crime operations potency of the Nigeria Police as a conscious strategy towards placing the Police ahead of criminal elements. It is for this reason that these operational items were acquired and are being launched today. These items include 200 Toyota HILUX 4X4 Double Cabin vehicles equipped with Police Communication Gadgets; Springbuck Armoured Personnel Carriers; 15 Mer