The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has pledged sustained support for the modernisation of the Nigeria Police Force, including the establishment and development of a new Police Academy campus in Ogun State, as part of efforts to strengthen research-driven and technology-based policing in the country.
Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono made this commitment during a courtesy visit by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Rilwan Disu, at the Fund’s headquarters on Thursday in Abuja.
Echono said President Bola Tinubu had already approved the establishment of the new campus and assured the police leadership that TETFund would provide intervention funds for take-off facilities and institutional development.
He said, “We will move quickly to provide the core facilities on that campus for them to take off.
“I want to advise you that before you leave office at the end of your term, you should make sure that the campus attains full university status. The moment you develop it to a point where it becomes a self-sustaining institution, it will get sustainable funding from us every year as a right, just like Wudil is enjoying now.”
The TETFund boss said the agency would also support the training of academic personnel and specialised officers to meet emerging security challenges driven by technology and evolving criminal networks.
He noted that security agencies remained among the most educated institutions in the country, adding that Nigerian officers had consistently excelled in international peacekeeping and security assignments.
“The only way we can keep pace with the evolution of crime is to continually train even serving officers.
“Technology has made policing easier in one way and more difficult in another because the criminals also now have access to sophisticated tools. We must train men and women who will acquire these skills and put them to the benefit of our country.”
Earlier, the IGP stressed that education remained central to police reforms, professionalism and effective policing, saying the force was determined to build a modern, research-driven institution capable of tackling contemporary crimes.
“We value education. If you notice any lapses in what we do as police officers, all the complaints against the police boil down to education.
“To destroy a nation, all you need to do is destroy its educational system and the nation is gone.”
Disu said the police were repositioning the academy to specialise in areas such as forensics, criminology, cyber security, artificial intelligence and data analytics.
“You cannot do good policing without having wonderful forensic officers and departments. We need criminologists. Crimes are happening, and we need to understand why they happen. Policing has gone beyond stereotypes. We want to be scientific.”
The IGP recounted how officers at the academy once wrongly profiled people as criminals based solely on their appearances during a training exercise, only to discover later that the individuals were doctors, scientists and professionals.
“We profiled them with just their faces. That is why we need education to bypass this kind of thinking,” he said.
The IGP further disclosed that the force already had officers trained in artificial intelligence, drone deployment and crime prediction analysis, including seasonal crime forecasting commonly referred to as “Ember months policing.”
“We can predict crimes. At the end of the year, we notice increases in fraud, accidents and other crimes. These are analytical and research-driven.”
Disu appealed for sustained TETFund interventions in lecture theatres, laboratories, ICT facilities, student accommodation, libraries and research centres to ensure the successful take-off of the new institution.
“The future of effective policing lies in education, innovation, professionalism and strategic partnership.
“You do not have any other police than this one you see before you. We may not yet meet all expectations, but it is still the Nigerian Police Force that has kept this country together.”
