Minister, IGP Meet Nasarawa State Stakeholders
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Police Affairs, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim and the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun have met with stakeholders from communities across the 13 Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State.
This is in a bid to strengthen community policing and tackle the issues of criminality in the state.
Speaking in Lafia during the Renewed Hope Agenda Citizens Town Hall Engagement tagged “Community Policing: Building A Safer Nigeria Together” the Minister said the agenda aimed to implement a community policing strategy that was designed based on local peculiarities and considerations with the full participation of members of the various communities.
She explained that the Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry
of Youth Development, had initiated a strategic branding campaign to cultivate a positive and contemporary image for the Nigeria Police Force.
“Today’s town hall is a reflection of the significant shift in our approach to policing. As you may be aware, Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 puts the security and welfare of our people as the government’s priority.
“The Constitution, the Police Act of 2020, and the National Security Strategy
go further to position the Nigeria Police Force as the lead in internal security.
“As a responsible government, therefore, Mr. President, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has placed security at the center of the administration’s eight priorities, and we have commenced the implementation of the Renewed Hope Police Agenda, which will ensure that our police force is strategically positioned to fulfill its mandate,” she noted.
Renewed Hope Police Agenda
The Minister mentioned that the six thematic areas of the Renewed Hope Police Agenda include Technical and Operational Excellence; Infrastructure Advancement; Welfare Enhancement; Policy Framework Development; Community Policing and Re-branding, Strategic Communication, and Public Trust Management.
She assured the stakeholders that the ministry would continue to give massive support to the Nasarawa State government to tackle all forms of criminality including kidnapping and banditry in the state.
Suleiman-Ibrahim assured that the Nigeria Police Force would continue to live up to its responsibilities for all citizens of the country.
Also speaking, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun who was represented by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Dasuki Galadamci, said the efforts being made by the Force were geared towards ensuring quality service delivery and the tracking down of criminal elements across the state and Nigeria at large.
“Without safety and security, there will be no meaningful development. We have decided to use local solutions to solve our local problems. Community Policing is a strategy and we have adopted it to tackle security issues in communities,” he said.
Support
Meanwhile, the National Vice-chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee, Otuonunyo Kenneth, urged the members of the public to always support the police in every way possible to carry out their assignments.
He noted that inadequate manpower was a major challenge affecting their operations.
“We all know in this country that the police are understaffed. They work 24 hours a day to provide security for the people. They need all our support and encouragement. We should always correct them in love because they are making a lot of sacrifices to provide security for the people,” he added.
Governor Abdullahi Sule pf Nasarawa State, while welcoming dignitaries from Abuja and other parts of the country for the town hall meeting, pledged the state government’s commitment to continue to support the police with necessary logistics to carry out their responsibilities without any hitches.
One of the attendees at the stakeholders engagement and Speaker of the Youth Assembly of Nigeria, Shuaibu Sani, expressed his gratitude to the Minister of State for Police Affairs and the Inspector-General of Police for their efforts towards ending criminality in Nasarawa State and Nigeria at large.
The high point of the day was the visit by the Minister and the IGP to various police formations in the state such as the police command secondary school, and police public relations school, among others.
They also paid a courtesy visit to the palace of the Emir of Lafia.
