His Excellency, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS has received the National Economic Council Committee on the overhaul of security training institutions in Rivers State on a nationwide assessment tour of Nigeria Police and other security training facilities.
The committee is chaired by the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, with Governors of Kaduna, Ogun, Taraba, Akwa Ibom, Zamfara, and Nasarawa as members, while former Inspector-General of Police, Baba Usman, serves as secretary.
The Governor, joined the Committee on security training overhaul at the Police College, Nonwa-Tai, where the team inspected the facility’s deplorable conditin.
Briefing their host on their mandate, Gov. Peter Mbah said,
“The President personally inaugurated the Committee because he recognized we are at a security crossroad and nothing short of a complete overhaul is required to ensure our future is secured.
He noted that the President recognizes that security is paramount and it is the primary responsibility of any government, stressing that there had been an approval by the President to recruit 30,000 Police personnel and expressed concern that such recruitment cannot take place without functional training instructions for these men and women that protect the society.
“So, what we have come here to do is on the spot assessment, a kind of fact finding as we have already have reports of the state of all the training colleges both for the Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps across the country.
News: NYCN Calls for Compulsory Drug Tests in Key Institutions
Gov. Mbah emphasised that the intervention is meant to be nationwide in line with the mandate given to the Committee by the President, stressing that visiting to see the state of the institutions is essentially to re-echo the President’s passion for getting things done urgently and ensuring conducive environment for the police personnel.
Gov. Mbah restated that the project is “being treated as an emergency, including the intervention funds for it. It is extremely important we underscore that point to know we are at a security crossroad nationwide and something needs to be done urgently.
“Something bold needs to be done in all the training institutions in the country for the Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps. These training facilities have endured decades of neglect” he said
He applauded President Bola Tinubu whom he said is determined to ensure that the men and women who protect the Nigerian communities must be exposed to an environment where they can be properly trained to understand what it takes to have the skills to be professional.
The Committee Chairman described the exercise as a national mission to restore the integrity, and professionalism of the men and women who protect the society which is the vision of the President in charging the Committee to embark on the rehabilitation.
According to the Committee Chairman, “The first phase will be one across the States and the Committee will also supervise the renovation to oversee the period of renovation, reconstruction and re-equipping. It is not going to be a patch work. There will be a total rebuild and restoration of the dignity of these men and women who protect our communities.”
On his part Governor Siminalayi Fubara noted, it is important to acknowledge the President’s bold statement in wanting the police officers to be trained and engaged to be more professional, expressing a strong belief that with the situation of the country today the President meant well for the nation by embarking on the rehabilitation of the security training schools across the country.
“It doesn’t matter when it is initiated. We just started, and I am sure we are going to get it right. It is not about putting the facilities together, it is a whole package and at the end of the day, Police will be motivated so much so that they will act professionally like any other police in any part of the world.”
