Nigeria Police Force gets 5 new zonal commands, new department

The federal government has approved the reorganisation of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) with the creation of five new zonal commands as well as the decentralisation of the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (FCIID) creating a new department.

Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), DCP Frank Mba, in a press statement, Thursday in Abuja, said the NPF now has eight departments, eight Deputy Inspectors General of Police (AIGs), 17 Zonal Commands and four FCID annexes.

It read in part, “As part of efforts at addressing threats posed by the dynamics of crimes in the country and the full implementation of the federal government community policing initiative, the federal government of Nigeria has approved the reorganisation of the NPF.

“This reorganisation includes full autonomy of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB), creation of five additional Police Zonal Command Headquarters and the decentralisation of the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (FCIID).”

According to him, “By this re-organisation the FIB, which was previously a section under the FCIID, is now a full-fledged department of the Force to be headed by a DIG. With this new arrangement, the Nigeria Police Force now has eight departments headed by a DIG.

“The Departments are: Department of Finance and Administration; Department of Operations; Department of Logistics and Supply; Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID); Department of Training and Development; Department of Research and Planning; Department of Information and Communication Technology (ICT); and Force Intelligence Department.”

The spokesperson further stated that, “Federal government also approved the further decentralisation 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.”

He said, “In a similar vein, five new Police Zonal Command Headquarters have been created for the NPF in addition to the hitherto existing 12 Zonal Command Headquarters. This makes a total of 17 Zonal Command Headquarters in the country.

“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).”

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, while thanking President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Police Council, has expressed confidence that the reorganisation would further bring policing closer to the people, improve the response time of the Police to incidents across the country, among others, the statement said.

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