The fifth edition of the Conference and Retreat for Senior Police Officers is set to hold in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this last Friday, while addressing the media at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
“The conference will serve as a platform for police strategic managers and carefully selected policing experts in the country and across the globe to engage in peer review and cross-fertilisation of ideas on the effective implementation of community-based internal security management strategies”, Adejobi said.
He further said that since the first edition was held in Lagos in October 2019, respective Inspectors-General of Police, in partnership with Lenders Consult International, have convened the annual event, which is an important gathering of strategic Police managers in Nigeria.
Adejobi reiterated that the Conference and Retreat is a gathering of all senior officers from the rank of Commissioner of Police and above and a platform for senior police managers in the country to critically assess the internal security performance of the Force and strategise on ways of improving service delivery and secure the internal security space of our dear country.
“In the last edition, the event hosted the President of INTERPOL, Ahmed Naser Al Raisi. While delivering the keynote address, the INTERPOL President expressed his organisation’s desire to further strengthen INTERPOL’s collaboration with Nigeria, considering the vital position and the role of the Nigeria Police Force in the security of the international community.
“The fifth edition, with the theme ‘Improving Nigeria’s Internal Security and Economic Prosperity Through Inclusive Policing,’ has been scheduled to be held from Monday 24th to Wednesday 26th February 2025 with the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the Special Guest of Honour, to declare the conference open.
Other guests expected to grace the opening ceremony include the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, State Governors, the National Security Adviser, legislators, ministers, the Chief of Defence Staff, and other heads of security agencies in the country. We are also expecting some guests from across the African continent and beyond.
He further said that the theme of this fifth edition underscores the pivotal role of an inclusive approach to policing in fostering national security and economic growth.
“It is also part of the IGP’s ongoing effort to transform the Force into a professionally competent, service-driven, rule-of-law compliant, and people-friendly security institution with the capacity to support the Federal Government’s agenda of economic prosperity and development in the country.
He reiterated the commitment of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, to improve the institutional capacity of the Force to deliver on its statutory mandate.
Also speaking, President and CEO of Lenders Consult International, the official partners to the Nigeria Police on the program, Mr. Shina Phillips said the fifth edition was poised to be the biggest and the best in terms of content and delivery.
According to Phillips, “you already know that the idea of this event is to bring Senior Police officers together and keep them abreast of current security methods of course with our peculiar exigencies as the focal point.”
“We plan to deliver far better than we have ever done bearing in mind that the IGP is expecting Mr. President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President of the INTERPOL and Police chiefs across the African continent. So you can see, the program is becoming bigger and better and one thing I can assure you is that the Senior Police officers will go back to their commands more refreshed, more determined to deliver on their assignments.”
“The IGP has always insisted that the training cascade down to the Rank and File and I wish to inform you that the program has been yielding the desired results. Already the AIGs, the CPs in their various commands have developed programs in their zones which have impacted positively on combating crime. Those programs are part of what they learnt from the Conference and Retreat ”
