Buhari Approves N4bn For Fueling Police Vehicles This Year, Minister Reveals

Buhari Approves N4bn For Fueling Police Vehicles This Year, Minister Reveals

By Williams Anuku, Abuja

The Minister stated this on Tuesday, in an interview with newsmen at the National Institute of Police Studies (NIPS), Abuja.

Dingyadi, who was at the Institute to deliver a lecture with the theme, “Strategic Leadership Development: The Role of the Ministry of Police Affairs” to  Course participants of Strategic Leadership and Command Course 3/2021 also harped on the issue of Police welfare, training and retraining of officers and equipping the Police.

According to him, “Under the 2021 budget, for the first time in the history of Nigeria Police, over 4 billion naira has been approved for fuelling of Police vehicles in the country. Our desire is to sustain this gesture which will be carried out on quarterly basis.

“The Ministry is deeply grateful to Mr. President and the National Assembly for approving funds for the supply of fuel to the 36 states Police Commands across the country and FCT to increase their efficiency.

“As we speak the Police Trust Fund has awarded contracts for supply of more operational vehicles, Body Protection Vest and Helmet, Arms and Ammunitions, Drugs and Medical equipment and other critical security hardware.”

On the issue of Police welfare, the Minister noted that, the Ministry is on top of the situation to ensure that what Mr. President has promised the police in this country is actually concretised.

He said, “I have been talking with the Salaries and Wages Commission on several times, but they have to do a lot of ground work.

“They have to talk to the various stakeholders involved in this exercise and do a lot of arithmetical calculation, they have to take so many things into account, but we have all been talking to them and each time I talk to them, they assure me that they are on top of the thing and that very soon this thing is going to come out.”

In his remarks, the Director General of NIPS, Prof. Olu Ogunsakin said, the Minister of Police Affairs was at the apex Strategic Training Institution for senior Police Officers from the rank of Assistant Commissioners of Police  and above to boost the morale and reassure the participants that, government shares in their concerns, support their efforts and appreciate their sacrifices to make communities safe.

The eight weeks Course (SLC C) 03/2021 with the theme, “Strategic Leadership Roles in Policing Diverse Societies” commenced on the 28th June, 2021 and is expected to end on the 20th August, 2021.

The Course has 40 Senior Officers from the Nigeria Police Force and 10 Senior Officers form Sierra Leone Police as Course participants.

Earlier in his Lecture, Dingyadi assured the foreign participants from the Republic of Sierra Leone who are sharing knowledge with with their Nigerian counterparts at the course that, the government will continue to sustain these noble ideals for a safer West African region and Africa in general.

Meanwhile, two of the participants, ACP Muyideen Obe of the Nigeria Police Force and  Sylvester Koroma from the Sierra Leone Police who spoke with newsmen expressed their satisfaction with the training, stressing that, they have “wonderful learning experience and it is one of those very momentous moments in our lives.”