VICE PRESIDENT NAMADI SAMBO

FG Inaugurates 9-Man Committee On Police Re-Organisation

Vice-President Namadi Sambo on Friday in Abuja inaugurated a nine-manpresidential committee on the re-organisation of the Nigeria Police Force warning that government would no longer tolerate indolence in the force.

Sambo who inaugurated the committee on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan lamented the current state of the Nigeria Police Force and the loss of confidence by the Nigerian public in the force.

According to him, government will no longer tolerate indolence, lack of capacity and excuses for non-performance in the police force.

“Your Committee was set up primarily to redress the rot in the Nigeria Police Force and reposition it to face the challenges of democratic society through the timely prevention and detection of crimes in all its ramifications.

“As it is today, the public whom the police force is meant to serve has been disenchanted due to several negative vices exhibited by certain elements.

“The police must brace up to the ever increasing tactics and antics of criminals in our society.

“The time has come where the whole force should be re-examined and re-organised for efficiency and effectiveness.’’

Sambo tasked members of the committee to bring their experiences to bear as they set out to discharge their assignment.

The vice-president reiterated government’s determination to fight all social vices and ensure the strict observance of the rule of law, where “all are equal before the law.”

Responding on behalf of members of the committee, its chairman, Mr Parry Osayande, lamented that there was no time in the nation’s history that the Nigeria Police Force had suffered the kind of indignity as currently being witnessed.

He maintained that recent events in the country showed that the police had failed woefully in the discharge of its duties.

“The Nigeria Police Force has unfortunately lost its primacy amongst security agencies. Barrage of criticisms are now being freely thrown at the police by the citizens who have totally lost confidence in the police organisation due to gross inefficiency, corruption and corrupt practices.

“Its recruitment processes and training have not only been compromised, but also politicised and bastardised, such that rather than being dominated with the purest and intelligent persons, it is now full of the dregs of the society and people who are there for lack of nothing else to do.”

Osayande pledged that the committee would discharge its responsibilities diligently with a view to restoring the lost glory of the Nigeria Police.

He also promised that the committee would re-position the Nigeria Police to an efficient, polite and civil police that would sustain and meet the challenges of a democratic society.

Members of the committee are Mr Casmir Akagbasu, Alhaji Bashir Albasu, retired Maj-Gen. S. N. Chikwe and Prof. S. D. Mukoro.

Others are Dr Fabian Ajogwu, Hajiya Aisha Tukur and Alhaji Abdullahi Yola.

Esther Garba is the committee’s secretary.