2023: Nigerian Police Train over 400 Officers on Security Management

In an effort to ensure hitch-free, fair and credible elections in 2023, the Nigeria Police Force has commenced the training of over 400 officers on election security management.

The officers, drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), will undergo a comprehensive training workshop under a train-the-trainer model in which they are empowered to cascade the lessons through the organisational chain by offering the same to other officers.

The theme for the training is: ‘The 2023 General Elections: Enhancing National Security Capacity for a Secure and Credible Electoral Process in Nigeria’.

While declaring the training open in Abuja last Thursday, the Inspector General of Police (IG), Usman Alkali Baba, disclosed that the election security management module will be introduced in the curriculum of police training schools.

Explaining the rationale behind the training, the IG said the leadership of the Nigerian police is mindful of its critical role in the election security value chain and conscious of the need to continually broaden its professional knowledge and operational capacity with a view to closing the knowledge gap that could inhibit the optimal delivery of the election security mandate.

The police boss said the leadership of the Nigeria Police also found it expedient to expose personnel to tailor-made training ahead of the 2023 General Elections, which is what informed the concept of the Workshop.

The IG added that slots for the training were allocated to some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that play complementary roles in the election security process in order to ensure necessary inclusivity.

Some of the MDAs include the Office of the National Security Adviser, Military, DSS, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Correctional Service, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, and many others.

Baba commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his support to the Nigeria Police Force over the years and disclosed the plans of the NPF to sustain the gains of the initiative with the development of reference materials on the subject.

According to him, “As part of efforts to ensure the sustainability of the gains of this initiative, we plan to develop all the workshop presentations into a publication, which will be launched in due course. When published, it will serve as a credible, professional, and academic reference book on election security in Nigeria.

“We have also resolved to incorporate Election Security Management modules into the Training Curriculum of the Nigeria Police Force for purpose of entrenching it into our professional training structure. In addition, we are in discussion with some Civil Society Organisations and Development Partners, particularly the Embassy of the United States of America towards partnering with them in supporting the knowledge transfer phase of this Workshop at State Command level.”

Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour, the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd), offered assurances that the 2023 general election will be the freest and fairest in the annals of the country’s political history.

Monguno said the conduct of the national elections in Nigeria rests squarely with the Police Force being the lead internal security agency in election management across the globe.

He announced the President’s directive to all security agencies to collaborate on protecting the integrity and credibility of the elections, adding that his assent to the Amendment of the Electoral Act 2022 on February 25, 2022, was a demonstration of his commitment to free, fair and credible elections.

The NSA further stated that the Act had given the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the financial autonomy to conduct credible polls, as was witnessed in the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections recently.

He said: “the president is committed to delivering an election that is free, fair and credible. It will be devoid of any form of wuru wuru as used in the Nigerian parlance.”

He however appealed to the heads of all the security agencies in the country to collaborate and work in synergy towards providing adequate security during the electoral process.

In the same vein, the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Muhammed Dingyadi, reiterated the federal government’s commitment to peaceful and credible electoral process in 2023.

He also appealed to the nation’s security agencies to showcase professional conduct and play their crucial role with a sense of duty and patriotism.

In his own remark, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, lauded the IG, Baba, for the initiative.

He said the precursor to the conduct of election was security, adding that: “The aspiration of every Nigerian and friends of Nigeria is to have free, fair and secure elections in 2023.

“As members of the Armed Forces, we will continue to give support to the civil authority and the police, being the lead in internal security positioning. The entire leadership hierarchy of the Armed Forces is here to give their support and beyond that, we also have a covenant with the democratic process. The growth and stability of Nigeria’s democracy is so pivotal to our existence.

“We are here not only to reecho that covenant, but also to assure Nigerians that the military is prepared to give support throughout the entire process and beyond,” he said.

Other top members of Nigeria’s Armed Forces and stakeholders present at the event at the ICC in Abuja include the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Auwal Gambo, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, representatives of political parties, Non-governmental Organisations, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Manhood Yakubu among other delegates.

The eight retired IGs also present at the summit included Aliyu Attah, Musliu Smith, Sunday Ehindero, MD Abubakar, Suleiman Abba, Mike Okiro, Ibrahim Idris, Ogbonna Onovo and Solomon Arase. The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was also present.

While appreciating the present IG, Usman Alkali Baba, Dr. Arase said, “when you have an Inspector General of Police who is not allergic to knowledge, this is the type of thing that you have – a police force that is not knowledgeable is prone to a lot of tendencies. Building capacities this way is one of the ways we can use to cure some of the inadequacies that we have.

After the opening ceremony, the IGP visited the participants at the venue of the workshop for an interactive session where he also delivered a paper titled: ‘The Current State of Security and Police Preparedness for the 2023 General Elections.’

In his lecture, he spoke on the constitutional role of the Nigeria police force on election security, the expected challenges and approaches in election security management.

The major expected outcomes of the training include robust inter-agency collaboration towards effective security governance during the 2023 General Elections and in other future joint electoral security operations; enhanced knowledge of security agents on election security management, drawing on global best practices and development of an ‘Election Security Management Protocol’ that will act as the standard security management template for future elections at all levels in Nigeria.

It is anticipated that the document will act as a credible reference document for all security agencies and other strategic stakeholders within the electoral system in Nigeria.

Other expected outcomes include appreciation of peculiar election security threats and specific approaches towards managing them at various stages of the electoral process and knowledge of current pattern and trend of crimes and internal security threats, and pathways to mitigating them and