The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, yesterday disclosed that the Police plan to establish an Explosive Ordinance Training School in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to train more personnel to address life-threatening issues relating to explosive ordinance handling and safe detonations.
Idris disclosed this during an emergency visit to Borno, one of the states facing Boko Haram insurgency for about nine years.
The IGP also pledged that schools in the northeast are to have four policemen each to protect students’ and pupils’ lives.
He gave the assurance during his visit to Government College and Yerwa Government Girls College, both in Maiduguri.
“The idea of establishing this school was to overcome the challenges of explosive ordinance handling and safe detonations in the frontlines of counter-insurgency and terrorism operations in the northeast.
“The school is to groom more personnel to deal with issues relating to explosive ordinances handling, within and outside the country,” he said.
While addressing Police officers and men in the state, Idris said the Force was also rebuilding and re-equipping the Police Mobile Training School at Limankara village in Gwoza Council and had already deployed additional sniffer dogs to assist the men protecting the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and the Muna-Garage area, which had faced incessant suicide bomb attacks.
The Police chief commended the dedication and loyalty of the policemen and urged them to do more for the security and harmony in Borno and the northeast region.
The state Commissioner of Police, Damian Chukwu, listed some of the problems facing the command to include accommodation and transit camps for personnel on transfer and special duty and inadequate work equipment and allowances of the policemen.
On how to secure schools, he said: “Adequate deployment of policemen has been made for schools, IDPs camps and other vulnerable locations across the state.”
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Assuring the Police determination to end the spate of kidnappings in the region, he said:
“Yerwa Government Girls College, which has a higher students’ population, now has 10 policemen to protect lives and property.”
He explained that five female and five male officers, whose details of attachments and postings would be made public, are to be posted to the Girls College.
He appealed to both students and managers of the schools to cooperate with the policemen attached to their schools by reporting all suspicious characters for immediate action.
Idris warned: “All of you should shun all social vices and be law-abiding to avoid jeopardising students’ future.”
He also donated 20 bags of rice and a cow to the students of Government College.
Principals of Government College, Abba Gana, and Government Girls College, Bintu Abakura, commended the Police chief for the visit to assess security in Borno schools.
They assured him of their support by reporting all suspicious cases to the Police for prompt action save lives and property.
