Police commence construction of N16bn crime-incident database centre

Foundation for the construction of Nigeria Police Crime and Incident Database (NPCID) centre estimated at N16 billion, was on Thursday, laid by Vice President Yomi Osinbajo.

Speaking at the ceremony, the vice president said the centre would equip the Nigeria Police with necessary modern equipment to tackle the technical and smart ways of modern crimes.

The vice president noted that the Nigeria Police officers had always been one of the best in the world, and expressed the hope that with the centre in place, the Force would be equipped with all the necessary equipment to work.

“The Nigeria Police has been one of the best in the world. I am saying this because I witnessed what they achieved in Somalia on a peace mission, as I worked with the United Nations and saw how our police distinguished themselves.

“Also, as an Attorney General in Lagos for eight years, I worked with the police. The challenge has been lack of equipment and welfare of the policemen. I believe that with the proposed Nigeria Police Crime and Incident Database, our men will conduct police activities smartly and faster,” he said.

In his speech, the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris noted that the centre would help the police to process data of suspects and get the needed information even if the suspects committed the crime in any part of the country.

He observed that the centre was intended to harness all data across the federation into one central base, where police detectives could just key in the name of a suspect and all his or her data would pop out.

According to him, establishment of the centre was long overdue, considering the myriads of challenges that characterised the manual form of police crime and incident registers, which he said, had become obsolete and moribund.