EU, ECOWAS, Interpol Seek National Legislation for W’African Police System

Kingsley Nwezeh

The European Union (EU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the International Police (Interpol) yesterday jointly called for the gazetting and national legislation for the West African Police Information System (WAPIS) in West African countries.

The call came as the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Dingiyadi, said Nigeria was committed to the fight against criminalities in the country and the West African sub-region.

WAPIS is a multiannual programme (2012-2022) financed by the European Union and aimed at improving the capacity of West African law enforcement agencies to combat transnational organised crime and terrorism by facilitating the sharing of information.

Speaking at the inauguration of the West African Police Information System Centre (WAPIS) in Abuja, the Interpol Director of Partnerships and Planning, Mr. Carl Alexandre, said the opening of the centre represented an important milestone in the implementation of WAPIS.

He called for the gazetting of the programme by ECOWAS member states which would provide a framework for a national legislation.

He said the EU had provided funding for the project in Nigeria and other countries while ECOWAS had remained a strategic partner in the implementation of the programme.

The Interpol official affirmed that the WAPIS was “a strong mechanism. No enforcement strategy can effectively tackle crime without data sharing and no crime can be tackled in West Africa without an effective police system.”

He said an implementation committee set up on the programme had recommended and called for the gazetting of WAPIS by member countries.

“This will provide a framework that will be used to fight crime until a national legislation is in place,” he said, noting that the personnel to be assigned to the centre would be in place for three years.In his remarks, the Deputy Head of the European Union Mission in Nigeria, Mr. Alexandre Gomez, said the programme funded by the commission was designed to strengthen member countries to combat terrorism.

In her remarks, the Vice President of ECOWAS Commission, Mrs. Farida Koroma, said transnational crimes had become a threat to the sub-region, noting that member countries must collaborate and share data in real time.

She called for the gazetting of the programme by member states and called for more funding by EU.

In his speech, the Nigerian Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Dingiyadi, said WAPIS would promote the fight against crime in West Africa, noting that Interpol had aided the fight against crimes in the country.

He said Nigeria was committed to the fight against criminalities, urging the Interpol to consider Nigeria’s request for the international organisation to set up annex office in Lagos and extend the programme by two years.