By Dwelleth Morountodun
The Minister of State for Police Affairs, Hajia Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has sought partnership and technical support for the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from the European Union (EU).
The support, she said will enable the police ecosystem achieve its target of deploying global norms and best practices.
Imaan, stated this during a meeting with the European Union team led by the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms. Samuela Isopi, at the Headquarters of the Ministry of Police Affairs in Abuja.
The Minister stated that the technical support and partnership should be in the area of addressing policy gaps and capacity building that will boost the capacity of an existing and evolving Nigeria Police Force in the country.
The Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, according to her has eight components which has peace and security as a major and overarching component.
She acknowledged that the Ministry has a lot of targets and the need for collaboration with the EU in the area of reforms, capacity building, and community policing that will help to curb transnational crimes for collective achievements.
“What we are looking at is the community-based policing with intelligence-led and technology-driven.” She said.
“hat is the face of every police force globally, the path we like to go.
“The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation ( EUROPO) has a lot of capacity in that area and if we work together, we will achieve a lot.
“I am seeking every support that can be for the Ministry to achieve the renewed hope agenda which has policing components and none of them can work without it.
“We are harmonizing various police reforms that are in existence, analyzing why they are not fully implemented, and coming up with what we can achieve within 2-3 years”. Imaan reiterated.
Earlier, Isopi stated that the EU will continue to support all Nigeria relevant agencies that are involved in improving the coordination of policing in the areas of training and capacity building.
She added that the EU has a good collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force noting that they work together within the framework of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants. We have been doing capacity and supporting coordination at national, regional, and international levels.
She pointed out that the EU has a new migration programme which will be signed next week stressing that the agreement is essential because it is a political tool to do more in other areas.
“We are preparing a new phase of our program to end gender-based violence and we need your cooperation and support to work together.
“On transactional crimes, it is interesting that we can collaborate. We help to establish collaboration between Nigeria institutions and European entities and reaching out to the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPO) and the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding.” Isopi stated.
