Nigeria’s Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi said that the Police has begun to deploy technology in dealing with crimes and criminalities in the country.
He has also disclosed that the Ministry of Police Affairs is considering the recruitment of additional 10,000 police constables in the next month or two.
According to Dingyadi, the move is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to employ 40,000 men within his second tenure.
He made the disclosures on Thursday at the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team.
The Minister used the occasion to warn criminals and those fomenting trouble to desist, as the police will always do its work without fear or favour.
“The Police authorities are striving hard to be civil in their operations but would deploy firearms where necessary in the discharge of their responsibilities,” he said.
Responding to the request for psychiatric tests for policemen to ascertain their psychological stability, the Minister said the men were being made to undergo rigorous and extensive screening, including medical tests on prospective recruits, assuring that the best available were those engaged in the system.
Community Police
While noting that the demands of the ENDSARS protesters boiled down to police welfare, which the government has begun to implement, the Minister disclosed that 25,000 constabularies have been trained for community policing.
He however urged the community leaders to cooperate with the constabularies posted to them by gathering and sharing intelligence as well as reporting cases that needed to be reported.
Asked to identify the unknown gunmen causing havoc in the South-East since the members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have disowned the killings in the region, Dingyadi said “Okay, the unknown gunmen, you want to know who they are? I want to tell you that they are unknown gunmen and they are also criminals. They’re terrorists and we are dealing with them in the language they understand.”
Prosecution
The Police Affairs, Minister also revealed that although the newly promoted ex-Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has been retired, he would be prosecuted if eventually indicted by the probe panel chaired by retired Justice Ayo Salami.
Asked why the Police authorities have yet to act on the recommendations of the panel but chose to promote Magu to the position of the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police before his eventual retirement, Dingyadi said:
“This is an issue that should have been addressed by the Police Service Commission, which has the responsibility to conduct promotions of the police. They are not here. And I am aware that the Police Service Commission is directly under the presidency.
“So, I cannot speak for them. But what I know is that Mr. Magu has already retired and that is what I can tell you now. The fact that he was promoted is a matter for the Police Commission to maybe throw more light on.
“I’m not aware of the position of the government on the report you are talking about and I think it is still being under consideration. It doesn’t mean that when he retires, the laws will not catch up with him whenever he is found guilty. So, I think it’s not finished business.”
Following the accusations raised against the former boss of the anti-graft agency, President Muhammadu Buhari had set up an investigative panel chaired by Salami to probe him in July 2020.
The Salami’s panel upon conclusion of its assignment turned in its report in November of the same year to the President.
The Minister refrained from updating the media on the corruption charges against Abba Kyari, a suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police now in custody facing prosecution because it would be subjudice to do so.
Dominica Nwabufo
