By Kingsley Omonobi
ABUJA — Following the determination of the current Police administration to restructure the Mobile Police Force, PMF, the Police hierarchy has concluded plans to withdraw all Mobile Policemen from banks, cooperate organisations and individuals...
Consequently, the Police authorities have directed all banks, corporate organisations and individuals, who hitherto have been making use of mobile policemen, to seek other means of security arrangement for their organisations.
Towards this end, only few conventional policemen that are armed will be deployed to such banks and organisations to oversee the operations of other security agencies that they might engage to provide security for their business operations.
Inspector General of Police, Mr Hafiz Ringim, had written to banks through the DIG Operations, Audu Abubakar, directing the banks on the new decision of the Police hierarchy.
Following the development, Chief Security Officers of all banks in the country on Wednesday held a four-hour closed door meeting with the DIG Operations at the Force Headquarters to fashion out ways on how the banks could provide their own alternative security.
Though the outcome of the meeting was not made public, but an inside source said the banks were not disposed to the new arrangement, and were still pleading with the Inspector General of Police to rescind the decision as such directive will likely alter their operations and also jeopardize the security of customers.
The Police recently embarked on mass demobilization of mobile police officers, but the IGP said was his style to imbibe the culture of professionalism in the Nigeria Police Force.
According to him, the Mobile Police force is a specialized outfit, a specialized agency in the police. It is the striking unit of the PMF; they cannot have control over our internal security problems if they lose the purpose of their establishment. It was established in the early 60s in other to contain definite threat to internal security.
The IGP , regretted that over the years people have turned the PMF into something like an ornament, while every body want to be seen going around with Mobile police.
He added that his intention is to have the PMF in the barracks and to train them for deployment in order to help the nation contain its internal security problems.
