President Buhari unveils police facility in Port Harcourt

President Muhammadu Buhari who inaugurated a huge integrated Special Protection facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has confirmed that the annual police recruitment he ordered must continue to boost the ratio of police to citizens.

President Buhari disclosed this in Port Harcourt Tuesday where he inaugurated a Special Protection Unit (SPU) of the police with administrative block, armoury, underground cell, commanders’ residence, and other towering buildings fetching a total of 66 apartments.

The president who was represented by the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, said part of the ongoing police transformation include annual recruitment, improved funding, rapid equipment scheme, and housing scheme for policemen.

By 2016, there were about 371,800 policemen in Nigeria but the present administration has since vowed to up it to 650,000, thus the annual recruitments.

The president said the police force remains very crucial in the nation’s security architecture because it is the closest security agency to the people.

His words: “Major reforms are ongoing in the police highlighted by decision for yearly recruitments. This will continue. This is followed by upgrading police equipment for enhanced crime management environment, and provision of accommodation to policemen. The housing scheme for the police will be enhanced by the family Homes Fund scheme which has been linked to the police housing programme.”

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He said the actions were to improve on security of lives and property through effective policing, saying his administration has continued to address it through budgeting. This is in addition to the Police Trust Fund Act which works with other funding schemes to get more funds for the police.”

He said the SPU built in Port Harcourt by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is thus a practical demonstration of how to alleviate police sufferings. Now, police officers posted to Rivers State will find a very good place to live in and do their work, he said.

He commended the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, for prioritizing projects that are very relevant to the needs of the people, in accordance to the president’s directive. “We are all aware that if there is no security, there can be no development. So, fight against terrorism and banditry would have no looking back.”

Speaking, Akpabio said the present feat was coming soon after the commissioning of the NDDC permanent building (12 floors plus additional building) which he said came after President Buhari ordered its completion after over 20 years of abandonment. He mentioned a huge power project in Ondo and the 1000-bed students hostel in Uyo as more gigantic projects almost ready for commissioning.

In his intervention, Gov Nyesom Wike of Rivers State singled out the interim Managing Director of the NDDC, Efiong Akwa, as someone doing well and also mentioned the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, as someone not bringing politics to policing job.

He however frowned at the inability of the NDDC to close ranks with state governors in choosing projects to be executed in states, saying they have no right to barge into state roads and start construction without first finding out areas states needed support.

He threatened to block the road leading to the new NDDC headquarters at Marine Base, saying the Commission is yet to remit its own N2.5Bn part contribution for construction of the road as allegedly agreed with the Rivers State government. He said he has gone ahead to construct the road to 35 per cent without NDDC’s contribution. He also said no joint project with the state had gone well.

The IG of police said the building would serve very important purpose in housing officers of the police and promised to ensure they lived in them in decency.

Welcoming the vice president, the interim MD, Akwa, said the project was abandoned since 2012 due to failure to pay milestones completed. He said following the presidential mandate to complete important projects, he paid a visit there in March 2021 and thereafter resolved all the issues and resumed work. He mentioned some other abandoned projects that have also been revived despite what he described as difficulty in funding due to funds from IOCs that have not come into the Commission for a long time now.