Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has reassured the commitment of his administration in a continuous support to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) for efficient and effective service delivery
He gave the resssurance on Wednesday, when he received in audience, members of the Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF), led by Dr Ben Akabueze, who paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Enugu.
Represented by the Deputy Governor, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, the Governor told the team that Enugu State Government had always enjoyed cordial relationship with the Police.
He said that the essence of the visit was to enable members of the Trustees to understand the state of affairs of the respective Nigeria police zonal and state Commands, including the operational challenges, with a view to assisting in decision making and project formulation.
Ugwuanyi said that the existence and efficient police services would benefit the entire society, lead to improving security, community relations and safety for police officers.
He noted that the visit was apt, at this time that the police personnels at various formations were facing a lot of challenges, including, lack of manpower, welfare,social and infrastructural equipment, machineries, consumables and other elementary logistics.
“We have always met the police in the state at the point of need at various times Aside from the provision of the over 250 state of the Art security vehicles which fully equipped, with communication and surveillance gadgets, the state Government had also built and equipped the area command complex at Udenu local government area.”it built and rehabilitated offices and residential buildings for the police in Ezeagu, Igboeze north, Isiuzo, Nkanu East,,Nsukka, Udenu, and Uzo-uwani local government areas among others, for the police to give out their best.
The Governor informed the team that the state government had contributed immensely to the much needed support for the police. He commended the Enugu state police Command for it’s good services in the state. He informed the team that the state government in its bid to improve security in the State, established the forest guard, neighborhood watch and Vigilant groups
Ugwuanyi appealed to the Police Trust Fund to solve some of the challenges being faced by the police personnel, which included lack of arms and ammunitions, drones for tackling kidnap cases, CCTV, provision of police uniforms among others
Earlier, the leader of the team, Dr. Ben Akabueze intimated Ugwuanyi that they were on a nationwide visit of police facilities, to advise state governments on the workings of the Police Trust Fund and to seek partnership with state governments in the quest to make the Police more effective.
He told the governor that the Nigeria Police Trust Fund was established in 2019 and was signed into law the same year by President Muhammad Buhari. It took off officially in 2020 with the inauguration of the Board. The Trust Fund, he said, is to provide critical needs of the Nigeria Police force and its auxillary institutions in order to ensure their effective and efficient performances.
Akabueze was accompanied by the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Police Command, Abubakar Lawal, Secretary of the Trust Fund, the Director General, Budget Office, among others.
