3rd February, 2016
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase has said that the deployment of policemen to liberated communities to re-establish civil authority in the North-East had reached an advanced stage.
Arase disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja, at a meeting with commissioners of police and other senior officers of the force.
It would be recalled that a Deputy Inspector- General of Police in charge of operations, Mr Sotonye Wakama, was recently deployed to the North- East for need assessment.
Arase said that procurement and massive mobilisation of logistics was currently ongoing. “Procurement and massive mobilisation of logistics and personnel for this purpose is currently ongoing.
“By our projection, this exercise will commence before the end of this month (February),” he said.
Arase said that the force would consider a three-month timeline for policemen serving in the North-East because of the trauma they go through.
He stressed that the force had always ensured that allowances of the officers were paid as at when due, adding that the states were not redeeming their promises.
Arase called on policemen to be dedicated to their duties by providing adequate security to the citizens.
“The task of assuring the safety of citizens of this great nation is not only sacred; it is one that we must consistently dedicate ourselves to,” he said.
He noted that the negative public perception about the police would change if policemen would deliver quality professional service to the people.
Arase said that the force had put in place mechanism to check misconduct of all officers on duty on the nation’s highways.
He attributed misconduct of policemen in some commands to the lack of adequate supervision.
On the spate of kidnapping in some parts of the country, he assured that the culprits would be rounded up and brought to justice.
“We are addressing the issue of kidnapping in the country, my commissioners of police are fighting them,” he said.
Arase said that the meeting would among other things discuss the challenges of kidnapping, deployment of personnel to the North-East and cattle rustling.
He said that a number of strategies which include international collaboration and capacity building were being implemented to address these issues.