The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba has appointed Assistant Commissioner of Police, (ACP) Augustine Moses Jagaba as Director in charge of the Peacekeeping Directorate, in a bid to add more pep and advance the Nigeria Police Force (NPF’s) drive for enhanced and improved participation in peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations.
Disclosing this Friday is the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi. The police mouthpiece also said that the IGP lauded the distinguished selfless services rendered by members of the NPF contingents to peacekeeping operations on the African continent and around the world aimed at deescalating violence in war-torn countries and ensuring peaceful coexistence among members of troubled nations.
The IGP, according to CSP Adejobi also noted that the NPF has over the years deployed manpower and material assets to peacekeeping operations all around the world towards enforcing and maintaining peace in Africa and other countries of the world.
“Since its first participation in peacekeeping in 1960 with the deployment of a contingent to Congo, the list of countries with police peacekeepers is now endless. Nigeria Police peacekeepers have participated in operations in Congo, Namibia, Angola, Western Sahara, Cambodia, Mozambique, Somalia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, East Timor, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Afghanistan, Cote D’Ivoire, Burundi, Haiti, Sudan, South Sudan and Guinea Bissau to mention but a few.
“The Nigeria Police has deployed more than Thirteen Thousand (13,000) police officers to various UN/AU and ECOWAS peacekeeping operations.”
The Nigeria Police Peacekeeping Office was established in 2005 to coordinate peacekeeping activities with the clear vision and mission to research, train and equip officers with the requisite skills and competencies required to meet complex peace support operations environment through the delivery of quality internationally recognised and professional training. Nigeria Police Officers have made tremendous achievements while on peacekeeping abroad and clinched glory for the Force and the country at large.
The IGP has charged the new Director to strictly uphold the tenets of the Nigeria Police in peacekeeping selection, training, and deployments while reinforcing the various positive achievements that have been recorded over the years.
He further admonished the Director to domesticate standards and principles of modern policing via-a-vis training of police officers, review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Baton and Rifles Exercises (BARE), musketry, range practices, unarmed combat, etc. to boost quality service delivery of the NPF in maintaining law and order, and public safety in Nigeria.
ACP Jagaba holds a Bachelor in Microbiology from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and is currently undergoing his Masters in Security and Strategic Studies from the Nasarawa State University, Keffi. He has served in various capacities within the Force and has participated in peacekeeping operations in Darfur, Sudan, and Haiti.