IGP Stops ‘IGP Monitoring Unit’ From Undertaking Criminal Investigations

The Acting Inspector General of Police (Acting IGP) Usman Alkali Baba, has banned the IGP Monitoring Unit from “undertaking criminal investigations, including taking over cases from State Commands.”

Baba made this statement on Thursday in his remarks at the opening of Inspector General of Police Inaugural Conference with Strategic Commanders of the Nigeria Police Force which took place at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.

The IGP who also promised to “restore the citizens trust” in the Police Force has directed immediate reforms of the IGP Monitoring Unit.

This, according to him involved the “disbandment of the satellite offices of the Unit in Lagos and Port Harcourt, the streamlining of the personnel profile of the Unit at the Force Headquarters to not more than 50 operatives.

“Under the current dispensation, the Unit will only operate within their original mandate which is to investigate complaints of professional infractions that may be “alleged against any serving officer and as may be referred to them by my Office.

“Similar repositioning initiatives are being worked out in relation to other ad hoc investigative Units in the Force. This is with a view to restore professionalism, address citizens’ concerns on rights abuses resulting from the existence and operations of these ad hoc police investigation Units and to discourage duplication of police functions in a manner that encourages indiscipline and abuse of police process.”

Speaking on the importance of the Conference the IGP said, it was convened to enable him interact with officers of the Force across the country, act as a veritable forum for the definition of his mission statement and organisational vision as well as assess current internal security situation across the country.

“Review their strategies and emplace sets of strategic actions that could aid the Force in its statutory mandate of restoring order and public confidence, granted the current national security realities.”

While expressing worries over the recent pattern and trend of crime which clearly indicated an increasing threat to internal security by terror elements, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbery syndicates and arms traffickers, Baba stated that, this “constitute major challenges to our nation and to the Nigeria Police.

He explained that, “This trend is being compounded by a growing separatist agenda which has assumed an armed dimension in which personnel and assets of the Nigeria Police Force, Military and other security agencies are being constantly targeted in clearly well-coordinated, premeditated violent attacks in the South East Geopolitical Zone.

“As the lead agency in internal seeurity, the task of rolling back this unacceptable security tide rests primarily With us. Hence, there is no better time for us to re-order our policing vision, re-evaluate our strategies, close the trust gap between us and the citizens and re-position the Police institution all with a view to re-energising our crime fighting orientation than new.”

The IGP further noted that, the policing framework being envisioned under his leadership is one that will address the fundamental issues that impact on our optimal professional service delivery, break away from the traditional policing approaches, lift the Force into modernity, restore citizens trust, and re-position the Force to address the fear of crime as well as tackle prevalent threats in the most civil but effective manner.

“In line With this, the Policing Mission of my leadership shall be ‘To restore police primacy and bequeat to the nation a modernised, citizen-led, rule of law-guided, and professional Police Force that Nigerians can truly trust and depend on to achieve the Policing Mandate enshrined in Sections 4 and 5 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020.”