Police need N944.9bn to protect Nigerians ― IG

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has said the Nigeria Police Force will need almost N1tn to be well planned and organised in the fight against insecurity in the country.

The police is proposing a total sum of N944,856,416,800 to carry out its operations across the country.

The IG made this known at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, themed ‘Repositioning the Nigeria Police for an Enhanced Service Delivery.’

He had on Tuesday said apart from more personnel, the Force needed not less than 1,000 Armoured Personnel Carriers, 250,000 assault rifles with corresponding ammunition, to effectively police Nigeria.

The IG also said the country needed 2,000,000 tear gas canisters and smoke grenades, 200,000 riot gunners and smoke pistols, 1,000 tracking devices, and 774 operational drones, among others.

Adamu, who was represented at the event by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations), Abdulmajid Ali, stated that an aggregation of reports by the various police reform committees under the current democratic dispensation indicated that there were major challenges inhibiting optimal police service delivery.

In the document presented to the committee, the police listed the challenges as including gross underfunding, which he said was occasioned by inadequate budgetary appropriation and non-release of the limited appropriated funds.

An analysis of the document on Saturday showed that the police plan to spend a total of about N944.9bn on helicopters, gunboats, patrol vehicles, fuel, and monitoring and inspection.

A breakdown of the proposed expenses showed that they were in five categories.

Deployment of helicopters to the six geopolitical zones “for aerial patrol against armed robbery, kidnapping, banditry, terrorism and sundry operations” will cost N3,056,140,000.

The marine section of the NPF plans to spend a total of N21,660,000,000 on Police Combat Patrol Launch and armoured gunboats.

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The police will also acquire operational vehicles, including pick-up vans, APCs, cameras and water canon with N696,816,800,000.

Monitoring and evaluation of commands and training institutions by the Department of Research and Planning would cost N247,488,000.

A further breakdown of the N3,056,140,000 billed for the six aircraft showed that they would conduct aerial patrol for six hours per day, consuming 800 litres per hour, while the cost at N250 per litre would amount to N2,592,000. Repairs and servicing, lubricants and spare parts make up the total.

The N21,660,000,000 proposed for PCPL include the purchase of 15 units of armoured gunboats (12M) at N230m each, 15 units of 14M at N265,000,000 each and 10 units of M16 at N285,000,000 each. Other marine vehicles and devices make up the total amount.

With N696,816,800,000 for operational vehicles, the police plan to acquire 1,819 APCs at N150m each, 1,819 water cannons at N170m each, 1,915 patrol pick-up vans at N28.5m each, and vans with cameras at N29.750m each.

The cost of fuel – both diesel and petrol – for vehicles would be N194,451,100 per week, while the cost of maintaining them would be N1,838,400,000. The vehicles are to consume 1,127,780 litres of fuel per week.

These vehicles would be distributed across 267 area commands, 1,489 divisional headquarters, 37 state headquarters, 12 zonal headquarters and four force headquarters. Each of these formations would get one of each of the items. Out of the number, 10 APCs, 10 water cannons, 100 vans and 100 vans with cameras were to be reserved.