The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali, has assured that the force will deploy more sweepers to ensure credible and hitch-free elections in 2023.
The IGP who was represented by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, Bala Zenchi, said this in Lagos on Thursday during the commissioning of the newly built IGP Usman Alkali Baba Explosive Ordinance Disposal-Combined Joint Chemical, Biological and Nuclear (EOD-CBRN) conference hall and transit camp.
The IGP also assured Nigerians of their safety before, during and after the 2023 elections, stating that personnel of the force are being given the required training to achieve the success of the elections.
The IGP said: “Nigerians should expect better security in the upcoming general elections. I assure you that EOD will perform better than the way it used to be. That is why the police management team is more concerned about the training of personnel of the EOD.
“The training enhances their performance because where there is no training, there will be a problem, but I want to assure you that with the training we are giving to the personnel of EOD, Nigeria should expect a better performance.”
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The police boss also stated that “as it is, we are deploying more sweepers across the state to reclaim more public spaces. We have been reclaiming more spaces in the Northeast. We will continue to do it before and after the election.
“I want to state clearly that all these commissioning and development of new equipment are projects that show that we are preparing very well ahead of the 2023 general elections to ensure that Nigerians will go to bed and have their eyes closed.”
The Nigeria Police Force boss also said that “police are putting everything in place for the security of Nigerians. Nigerians should expect good results from us.
“As we did it in Anambra, Osun and Ekiti States. We will replicate what we did in those states in the general elections.”
Speaking on the circulation of EOD equipment around Nigeria before the 2023 election, the police boss said that the commissioning in Lagos was not the only one thus far in Nigeria.
He said: “There have been other commissioning in other parts of the country, but Lagos being the epicentre of the commercial capital of Nigeria, occupies a very important space.
“That is why we want to showcase some of the equipment in Lagos before any other states in the country,” the Nigeria Police Force boss stated.
He also assures Nigeria of legal distribution of explosives, saying that anyone who does not have business with explosives would not be allowed to have them
“The EOD personnel is posted to various locations, where they supervise, and also if there is any movement of explosives they also escort them to their appropriate destination.”
“The essence is to ensure it does not get into the wrong hands and presently we have been achieving a lot,” the police boss emphasized.
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