By Hassan Zaggi
In effort to ensure a hitch-free, fair and credible elections in 2023, the Nigeria Police Force has begun the training of over 400 officers in election security management.
The who officers were drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), will be train on train-the trainer capacity. They will be empowered to cascade the training to other officers.
While declaring the training open in Abuja on Thursday, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, disclosed that election security management module will be introduced in the curriculum of police training schools.
Explaining the rationale behind the training, which with the theme – ‘The 2023 General Elections: Enhancing National Security Capacity for a Secure and Credible Electoral Process in Nigeria,’ the IGP said: “Mindful of its critical role in the election security value chain, and conscious of the need to continually broaden its professional knowledge and operational capacity with a view to closing the knowledge gap that could inhibit the optimal delivery of our election security mandate the leadership of the Nigeria Police found it expedient to expose personnel to tailor-made training ahead of the 2023 General Elections. This informed the concept of this Workshop.”
In order to engender an all-inclusive training, the IGP said, slots were allocated to some Ministries, Departments and Agencies that play complimentary roles in the election security process to participate in the Workshop.
They include the Office of the National Security Adviser, Military, DSS, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Correctional Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, and many others.
The major expected outcomes of the training, according to the IGP, include, “robust inter-agency collaboration towards effective security governance during the 2023 General Elections and in other future joint electoral security operations; enhanced knowledge of security agents on election security management, drawing on global best practices and development of an ‘Election Security Management Protocol’ that will act as the standard security management template for future elections at all levels in Nigeria. It is anticipated that the document will act as a credible reference document for all security agencies and other strategic stakeholders within the electoral system in Nigeria.”
Other expected outcomes include appreciation of peculiar election security threats and specific approaches towards managing them at various stages of the electoral process and knowledge of current pattern and trend of crimes and internal security threats, and pathways to mitigating them and stabilising the security order ahead of the 2023 General Elections.
While commending President Muhammadu Buhari for his support to the Nigeria Police Force over the years, the IGP said that, “as part of efforts to ensure the sustainability of the gains of this initiative, we plan to develop all the Workshop Presentations into a publication which will be launched in due course.
“When published, it will serve as a credible, professional, and academic reference book on election security in Nigeria.
“We have also resolved to incorporate Election Security Management modules into the Training Curriculum of the Nigeria Police Force for purpose of entrenching it into our professional training structure. In addition, we are in discussion with some Civil Society Organisations and Development Partners, particularly, the Embassy of the United States of America towards partnering with them in supporting the knowledge transfer phase of this Workshop at State Command level.”
