By James Isaac,
A Bill for an Act to provide for the establishment of the Nigeria Police Force Training Institutions, to serve as high level centres for the provision of professional training and other related matters, passed second reading in the Senate on Thursday.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, the sponsor,Senator Abdulhamid Mallam-Madori Ahmed (Jigawa East) said that, the bill seeks to provide special training in any professional field relavant to policing and law enforcement.
According to him, the bill is borne out of an urgent need to reform, professionalize, and enhance the capacity of our Police Force in meeting the dynamic security challenges of our Nation, taking into cognizance the complexities of policing a high crime society.
Deploring the sorry state of affairs, he said that many of the existing training facilities are underfunded, outdated, and lack the necessary infrastructure and curriculum to provide specialized training needed for today’s officers.
He posited that, our officers need to be equipped not just with basic skills of policing but with the advance knowledge of intelligence gathering, forensic science, counter terrorism, cybercrime investigation, human right enforcement and community policing techniques.
Objectively,the bill seeks to offer specialized training to police officers at all levels,develop a curriculum that reflects modern policing needs, provide modern equipment and qualified instructors,collaborate with international law enforcement bodies.
The bill subsequently passed second reading with the support of his colleagues and the importance of having a modern security agency in securing lives and property in a modern world.
