Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, says the federal government has recruited more policemen to enhance security and safety nationwide.

Mr Dingyadi said this on Thursday in Abuja at the 15th edition of the PMB Administration Scorecard, organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.

The minister also said that the government has been strengthening community policing to enhance the flow of actionable intelligence to aid security agencies in their operations.

Mr Dingyadi said so far, the ministry had supervised the recruitment of 30,000 police personnel out of the 40,000 additional police constables approved by the government.

He added that community volunteers were also trained nationwide to support police operations at the grassroots.

“It is worthy to note that about 25,000 were trained in several police colleges across the country, through arrangements with state governors, local government chairmen and traditional rulers,” he said.

He said the volunteers, trained on basic police duties, modern intelligence gathering techniques and rule of law, were deployed to their local governments of origin to aid intelligence gathering and improve police visibility.

The minister also said that the signing into law of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund bill by the President Muhammadu Buhari has bridged funding gaps for the Police.

“This has since been made operational by the Ministry of Police Affairs to realise a laudable objective of insulating financing gaps for police operations.

“The fund has successfully delivered on its 2020 budget with purchase of operational vehicles, arms and ammunition, bullet proof vests and helmets for police operations.

“The fund has also purchased medical items to meet the health of policemen nationwide while renovation of offices and barracks also received attention,” he added.

According to Mr Dingyadi, the Police Trust Fund has upgraded facilities in some police training institutions as well as procured and installed intelligence equipment at Force Headquarters.

The minister said the fund had constructed and provided hospitals and health centres for police personnel and established the Nigeria Police Cyber Crime Control Centre in Abuja.

He said the re-establishment of the Ministry of Police Affairs by President Buhari on August 21, 2019 was to strengthen internal security architecture in the country.

Mr Dingyadi said the priority projects and deliverables assigned to the ministry by the presidency include the enrolment of personnel of agencies under the ministry into the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS).

He said the ministry was also assigned to supervise the implementation of the government’s policy on community policing and recruitment of additional 40,000 policemen nationwide.

“The ministerial mandate of enrolment on IPPIS was achieved within our first few months in office.

“Personnel of the Nigeria Police, Police Academy, other Police Formations and staff of the Ministry of Police Affairs have been fully enrolled on IPPIS platform,” the minister added. 

(NAN)