By Christopher Oji
The Minister of State, Police Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim has assured the Nigeria Police Force that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is ready to make a positive difference in Police reforms.
The Minister who spoke Tuesday evening during a visit to Lagos State Police Command,said,since 1999 no fewer than eight Committee Reports bordering on police reform have been produced, yet none has been implemented according to recommendations; but that the present administration of Tinubu would make positive change and change the narratives.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim, who was addressing officers and men of the Lagos State Police Command at the State Headquarters, noted that the only reason none of the reports has been implemented was ostensibly due to the high cost, but was quick to point out that it would be costlier to the nation if Tinubu’s administrations failed to start the reform, hence the President is poised on carrying out urgent reforms in the Force.
“This is the time to get it right because President Tinubu is committed to reforming the police and there is already a Committee set up to drive the reformation agenda,” she emphasized.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim with a benefit of some observations and experience garnered during the two-day (Monday and Tuesday) working visit to Lagos, said, “my finding today is not just that the Nigeria Police is the largest in Africa, but certainly the best. The Nigeria Police personnel have been doing much with so little.”
She vowed to change the narrative with respect to dilapidating police barracks, lack of logistics, poor welfare facilities for officers and men as she declared her commitment to having a better Police Force for Nigeria.
While pledging to push the case of the Nigeria Police to higher level of appreciation, she posited that policing is not a profession but a calling, adding that the Nigeria Police agenda is a national project.
Earlier in their separate welcome speeches, the acting Commissioner of Police in charge of Lagos Command, DCP Waheed Ayilara, and the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone Two (Lagos and Ogun States) Ari Mohammed Ali have pleaded with the Minister of State to use her good office to ensure that police barracks in Lagos are upgraded and made befitting for officers and men.
They also implored her to make the issue of logistics and welfare for police personnel a priority.
AIG Ali ,while explaining how the police in Lagos have been able to contend with all manner of crimes in the State, pointed out that land grabbing and kidnapping remain the most serious crimes prevailing in Lagos currently, but even at that, the police have been equal to the task.