•10,518 bullet proof vests, 10,904 ballistic, anti-riot helmets  

•106,000 long, short range tear gas, 1000 stun guns

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, said yesterday that the federal government had significantly boosted the arsenal of the Nigeria Police.

He listed the procurements made to enrich the weapon holding of the police to include 631 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), 895 firearms, 3,000 grenades and 75 General Purpose Machine Guns (GRPGs).

Other weapons procured to boost the arsenal of the police include 10,518 bullet proof vests, 10,904 ballistic, anti-riot helmets, 106,000 long, short range tear gas, and 1000 stun guns, among others.

Speaking at a retreat for senior police officers in Owerri, Imo State capital, the IG commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his prompt approval for procurements that upscaled its logistics and operational capacity.

“Your Excellency, Sir, my leadership inherited a police force in which the police mobile force and all other special operational units and state commands were confronted with critical operational assets challenges occasioned by the lack of operational vehicles to undertake their functions.

“Representations were made to your excellency, who promptly enhanced budgetary provision and granted special interventions to address this major challenge”, he said.

“In consequence, we have today, upscaled our logistics and operational capacity by the procurement and deployment of six hundred (600) purpose-built operational vehicles while the delivery of an additional  31 of such operational vehicles is being expected.

“The delivered vehicles include Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), patrol vans and water cannons among others. We have also enriched our weaponry holdings in dealing with the threats of banditry and other major internal security threats with the acquisition of a total of 890 firearms including 75 GPMGs.

“Other operational assets procured with presidential intervention include 10,518 bullet-proof vests with armoured plates, 10,904 ballistic and anti-riot helmets, about  106,000 long and short-range teargas for civil disorder management,  3,000 high velocity hand grenades, and one thousand 1,000 stun guns to address concerns on misapplication of lethal firearms”, he said.

The police chief noted that “all these assets have been distributed to police commands/formations and their deployment have remained the game changer in our efforts to stabilise the security order across the country.    

He further disclosed that with the presidential intervention, “our almost moribund marine unit that is being revived and repositioned to ensure security along our internal waterways which was becoming a major crime route.

“Consequently, we have acquired and deployed five state-of-the-art marine gun boats in furtherance to this goal. In addition, 10 have also been acquired as part of the Nigeria Police modernisation and internal security operational plans and we have within the budgetary provisions of the force established an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Unit under the Airwing Section of the force to deepen our specialised drone operations and surveillance functions across the country”, he said.

The IG said the personnel to man the unit were exposed to technical and professional training in South Africa.

He affirmed that under the 2021 Capital Project Budgetary Sub-Head and other special presidential interventions, the force completed and commissioned not less than 198 capital projects across the country.

“These comprises of model police station, barrack accommodations, tertiary police hospitals and other operational facilities”, he said.

On the 2023 polls, Baba said the focus of third edition of the Nigeria Police Conference and Retreat was twofold.

“The primary agenda has to do with election security governance, while the secondary focus is on internal security management and our policing mandate. From all intents and purposes, therefore, this event is particularly significant to the force and critical to the nation. 

“The importance of the gathering to the nation lies in the fact that the outcome will be critical to peace and security of our democratic process. This is to the extent that we will engage in a detailed evaluation of all issues relating to the security dynamics of the 2023 general elections”, he said.

“The importance of this agenda underscores our choice of the theme of the Conference which is – “The Imperative of a Nigeria Police Strategic Plan for Peaceful Elections”.

“In this regard, your excellency, during the conference and retreat, we shall critically and professionally review the pattern and trend of crimes and undertake a detailed security risk assessment with a view to identifying specific trends that could threaten the security and peaceful conduct of the general elections”, he  said.

He maintained that the police high command  intended to draw on the outcome of the initiatives to perfect our election security strategy and action plans towards stabilising the security and political landscape in a manner that will strengthen citizens’ confidence in the electoral process and produce a credible electoral outcome in the 2023 general elections.

“In aid of this process, I can assure your excellency that the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) has undertaken a comprehensive 2023 General Elections Threat Analysis which highlights and geolocated possible threats across all 774 Local Government Areas of the Federation.

“This report will be utilised to guide our appreciation of the security space as we finetune our election security action plan”, he said.

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