From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase yesterday in Asaba, Delta State capital urged officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to walk with swagger and carry themselves with dignity to earn respect of members of the public.
Addressing officers of Delta State command during his official visit to the command, Arase implored police officers particularly the rank and file to be proud of their job to elicit appreciation from the public.
“As an officer of the Nigeria Police Force, you must be able to walk with swagger. Carry yourself with dignity to earn appreciation from members of the public. I am very delighted seeing you here today because you are all looking radiant,” he said.
The police boss told the officers that their welfare especially the rank and file, was top on his agenda, explaining that rank and file officers formed the bulk of the workforce of the force.
He disclosed that over 40,000 officers of rank and file have been promoted to higher ranks since last year while over 300 children of the rank file officers have been placed scholarship courtesy of the force.
“I will continue to do more to improve your welfare. As we speak, we have a 400 housing units for officers of the lower rank. One hundred each of the housing units are located in Benin, Katsina, Yola and Enugu.
“We are going to do open balloting for the houses so that it will be for those who truly deserve the houses. I am going to make sure that you access the mortgage so that as you are exiting the force, you should be able to have a place where you call your own.
“I have written to the Governor of Delta State, appealing to him to give us a land somewhere, I and sure the Commissioner of Police will be pursuing that now. Once we have a place, we will make that we build houses for you,” he promised.
Mr. Arase commended the command for effectively policing the state, admitting that it was very difficult to police a state like Delta.
“You know I have emotional attachment to Delta because I was born in Sapele. It is not easy policing a state like Delta because of the security challenges including arms smuggling, kidnapping, robbery and what have you.
“So, I am here to thank you and commend you for the efforts which you put in to make this state peaceful and secured,” he stated.
He however urged officers of the command in charge of divisions, area commands and other units to adopt the community partnership approach in policing by organizing town hall meetings with non-state actors on a regular basis.
Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Alkali Baba Usman had thanked the Inspector General for the visit, saying that the visit would motivate the command to perform better.
Mr. Usman enumerated the challenges facing the command to include shortage of manpower, inadequate logistics, shortage of arms and ammunition and acute shortage of barrack accommodation for officers and men of the command.
But the CP was quick to add that in spite of the challenges, the command was winning the war against crime in the state.
“The challenges enumerated above notwithstanding, the Delta State command with the continuous support of the IGP and Delta State Government and coupled with effective synergy with other security agencies, vigilant groups and other stakeholders, is winning the war against all forms of criminalistics. The need to do more is not however foreclosed,” he said