FG restructures Nigeria Police

• Creates 8 departments, 8 DIGs, 17 Zonal Commands and 4 FCID Annexes

The Nigerian Government has approved the reorganization of the Nigeria Police, thus, restructuring the Force. Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, DCP Frank Mba, in a statement explained that the  reorganization includes full autonomy of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), creation of five additional Police Zonal Command Headquarters and the decentralization of the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (FCIID). He noted that the reorganization is part of the efforts to address the threats posed by the dynamics of crimes in the country and the full implementation of the Federal Government Community Policing initiative.

Mba said that by the re-organization, the FIB, which was previously a section under the FCIID, is now a full-fledged Department of the Force to be headed by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG). He added that eith the new arrangement, the Nigeria Police Force now has eight departments, and each is headed by a DIG.

The Departments were identified to include:

1. Department of Finance and Administration
2. Department of Operations
3. Department of Logistics and Supply
4. Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID)
5. Department of Training and Development
6. Department of Research and Planning
7. Department of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
8. Force Intelligence Department

The FPRO indicated that the Federal Government also approved the further decentralization of the FCID with the establishment of two additional offices in Enugu and Gombe States. “While the office in Enugu is expected to take care of investigations of major crimes emanating from the South-East and South-South geo-political zones, the office in Gombe will take care of the North-East geo-political zone. Each of these Annexes, in addition to the pre-existing ones in Lagos and Kaduna States, shall be headed by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) who shall report to the DIG in-charge of the FCID, Force Headquarters, Abuja,” Mba said.

he added that in a similar vein, five new Police Zonal Command Headquarters have been created for the Nigeria Police Force in addition to the hitherto existing 12 Zonal Command Headquarters. This makes a total of 17 Zonal Command Headquarters in the country, he said. Mba dislcsoed that the five new Zonal Commands are: Akure (Ondo/Ekiti Commands), Awka (Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi), Yenagoa (Bayelsa, Rivers Commands), Maiduguri (Yobe, Borno Commands) and Katsina (Katsina, Kaduna Commands).

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, while thanking President Muhammadu Buhari, who is Chairman of the Nigeria Police Council, expresses confidence that the reorganization will further bring policing closer to the people, improve the response time of the Police to incidents across the country and generally promote efficiency in service delivery.