FG will renovate, equip security training institutions nationwide, says Mbah

Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State says the Federal Government is committed to renovating and equipping security training institutions across the country.

Mbah, who is also the Chairman, National Economic Council (NEC) Ad Hoc Committee on the Revamping of Police and Other Security Training Institutions, stated this when he visited the training school and Police Detective College, in Enugu on Sunday.

The chairman also decried the state of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Training School in Oji-River Council Area of Enugu State.

Addressing newsmen shortly after inspecting the facilities at the NSCDC Oji-River training school, Mbah said the exercise was part of the ongoing fact-finding mission of the committee to ascertain the state of the training facilities.

According to him, it is a national mission that was personally instituted by President Bola Tinubu to address challenges of security training institutions nationwide.

He explained that the committee was designed to overhaul the entire training institutions for both the Police and the NSCDC.

“We divided ourselves into two teams – team to the north and a team to the south. I am leading the southern team and also the chairman of the committee and we have gone to a number of training institutions.

“Today we are at the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps training centre at the Oji River, Enugu State.

“What we have seen here is very disturbing. This is essentially what the president also saw and felt that this is not acceptable,” Mbah said.

According to him, we cannot have men and women who are meant to protect our communities trained in this sort of environment.

“So we need to ensure that the entire training institutions in the country is renovated, refurbished, reconstructed, and re-equipped to meet the trainings that our civil defence corps require for the 21st century policing”.

Highlighting the urgency of the assignment, Mbah explained that the committee was given just 30 days to submit its report by the next National Economic Council meeting.

He further said that the report would be comprehensive and based in on-the-spot assessment, disclosing that the committee had consultants who would also be engaging with the different commanders of the various institutions.

“The idea would be for them to do a deep dive to ascertain the areas that we need to intervene urgently to ensure that the equipment and infrastructure here are optimal.

Noting that the Federal Government recently approved the recruitment of 30,000 police officers, Mbah said the president also recognised that these officers protecting communities must be given world-class training.

“There is need for intervention across the nation for our training institutions, our training colleges, and our training schools.

“They must be upgraded to be able to provide the evolving 21st century skills that is required,” he said.