Nigeria’s IGP Egbetokun urges West African police chiefs to unite against transnational crimes

Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun has called on West African police chiefs to collaborate and devise innovative ways to tackle the complex security challenges facing the ECOWAS bloc.
Mr Egbetokun spoke at a meeting of the West African Police Chiefs Committee (WAPCCO) technical sub-committee on training and operations in Abuja.
He said West Africa had, in recent times, been confronted with complex national security challenges, which had been accentuating transnational crimes.
“The activities of these cybercriminals have imposed on us all the additional burden of developing our national security capacity to dominate cyberspace and deny criminals the liberty to operate in our overriding national and regional security interests.
“The differences in legal frameworks and legislative systems continue to hinder effective law enforcement operations and criminal justice delivery initiatives among member states.
“Our security reality continually deepens the need to commit to regional collaboration, towards dissecting the pattern and trend of crimes on the one hand, and towards pulling together and supporting each other in bridging our national security gaps,” he said.
According to him, these challenges have been posing significant threats to the national security order of member states and regional peace and social-economic profile.
Mr Egbetokun enumerated such crimes to include traditional crimes of stealing, cross-border robberies, human goods, drug trafficking, small arms and light weapons smuggling, banditry, and terrorism, as well as other non-state actors.
He further said that cybercrime and cyber-enabled crimes were now emerging as bigger challenges to the subregion’s security.
The IGP said a critical hindrance to effective regional law enforcement operations and criminal justice delivery initiatives was the differences in legal frameworks and legislative systems among member states.
“The situation calls for a collective review of the multivarious legal framework that regulates law enforcement and the criminal justice delivery system.
“It also calls for a stronger operational partnership that will encourage the evolution of workable protocols that will engender stronger operational integration amongst security forces and border management agencies within the subregion,” Mr Egbetokun said.
Also speaking, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Abdel-Fatah Musah, said the fast evolution of information technology had further sophisticated the platforms and tactics used by criminal networks against targets.
Represented by Abdourahmane Dieng, the permanent secretary of WAPCCO, Mr Musah said crime and criminality continued to pose a big threat to lives and property in the subregion, creating an unconditional environment for meaningful development.
The commissioner said security and law enforcement agents in the region had for so many years focused on territorial, aerial and maritime borders as key points for close surveillance against crime.
“Therefore, our mandate is to increase our capacity in the fight against transnational border crime of all forms, which includes employing training and operational strategies.
“The illicit traffic and proliferation of small arms and light weapons, human smuggling activities, armed robbery, illicit migration, child trafficking and labour, kidnapping, abduction, and maritime piracy are but a few of the main highlights trending in our region,” Mr Musah said.
He, therefore, urged the participants to share, inform, exchange and discuss issues and activities surrounding training and operations in their respective member states to come up with joint strategies for security personnel’s training and operations.
The director, Interpol Regional Bureau, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Paule Ouedrago, said the transnational dimension of the crimes required collaboration between countries, adding that the regional office would support the efforts through international police cooperation.
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Politics
I’m contesting senatorial seat to give Benue voice, says Tsegba
Mr Tsegba expressed concern over what he described as the failure of elected representatives to speak out against persistent attacks and killings in their constituencies.

States
30 units of 80-inch LG plasma TVs caught with terrorists’ suppliers: Military
A statement by Mohammed Goni, the acting spokesperson for the operation, said the suspects were arrested on Monday at about 1:30 p.m.

States
Borno, Adamawa, Yobe map out response strategies, flooding evacuation plans
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa governments have mapped out response strategies and evacuation plans to mitigate the effects of impending floods.

Rights
AUPCTRE faults Tinubu govt over unpaid wage award
The national president of AUPCTRE, Benjamin Anthony, made the call in an interview in Abuja on Wednesday.

Politics
PDP has moved past crisis, uncertainty, says Ohuabunwa
“The party is now rebuilding and will come out stronger and better,” stated Mao Ohuabunwa.

World
U.S. judge orders Trump to release financial records sought by BBC
A court has ordered Mr Trump to produce the financial documents the BBC requested as part of the legal proceedings in his $10 billion defamation suit.





