Security
THE Cleen Foundation says it will partner with the Police Service Commission (PSC) on police regulations to enhance professionalism, efficiency and response to issues of crime and criminality.
Mr Gad Peter, the Executive Director of the Foundation, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
Peter spoke after an advocacy meeting with the Chairman of PSC, Dr Solomon Arase.
According to Peter, like most Nigerians, we think that Nigeria police can be better than what it is presently.
“We think we can increase their level of professionalism, their efficiency, their response rate to issues of crime and criminality.
“We can remodel the police in such a way that a lot of Nigerians will have more confidence in them, believe in them and able to provide the much needed services in terms of public safety and security.
“You cannot talk about reforming the Nigeria Police without the support of the Police Service Commission,” he said.
He said the advocacy visit was part to identify and discuss areas of partnership to support the Nigeria Police in terms of police reform, with emphasis on police regulation.
According to him, a lot of documents have been produced and a lot of initiatives are on board, so the discussion is centered on the harmonisation of the documents and initiatives.
He said the focus was to make the documents living documents and ensure that the efforts of all Nigerians to get the police more proactive was achievable.
“We are going to have future engagement that will bring key stakeholders together to discuss the current issue and bring more donors on board.
“The idea is to ensure that you and I are very proud of the Nigeria Police and feel comfortable working with them.
“We have agreed to have all key actors working on Police reform, the international organisations, Ministries, Department and Agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders on the same table to discuss the issue,” he said.
According to him, we believe that there are documents that have been produced that will support the Police Act and it is time to look at those documents and see how we can enhance them.
Earlier, Arase told NAN that Cleen Foundation had been a long standing friend to the police and PSC.
Arase said the foundation was one organisation in Nigeria that criticised law enforcement agencies and also, proffer solutions to the identified problem.
According to him, anytime we have opportunity to interact with them, we know that something good is coming up.
“They have come to talk about a look at the police regulations.
“You remember that a new Police Act has come to being and you cannot operationalise the Police Act without dealing with the police regulation.
“We started the process last year with the UNDP and the Cleen Foundation have just come to say that we can escalate the discussion.
“To see how we can amend the police regulation to make it potent enough to deal with the Police Act that we already have.
“We are excited in the commission that parts of the police reform that we have been talking about is being spearheaded by a reputable organisation like the Cleen Foundation,” he said.
NAN
17th January, 2024. C.E
Tags: Civil Society Organisation (CSO) CLEEN Foundation Dr. Solomon Arase Gad Peter
