IGP Leaves For United States To Drum Up Support For Nigeria’s Peacekeeping And Counter-Terrorism Efforts

IGP MD Abubakar

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. MD Abubakar, is to undertake a four-day trip to the United States next week, beginning on Monday.
Accompanied by five other senior police officers, he will visit the United Nations Headquarters in New York for discussions with UN officials.  He will also meet with officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the New York Police Department (NYPD).
A statement signed by police spokesman Frank Mba described the trip as another fervid effort at getting the needed support from the international security agencies and other multilateral bodies, particularly in the area of intelligence gathering, intelligence sharing, exchange programmes, combating terrorism, peace-keeping operations and capacity building, especially on training, manpower and infrastructural development for the Nigeria Police Force.
“The meeting, which is an offshoot of the agreements reached on the platform of Nigeria and the United States’ Bi-national Commission held earlier this year, is expected to highlight the efforts of the present Police Administration towards: repositioning the Force, continuing and improving on the performance of the Nigeria Police contingents deployed in sub-regional, regional and UN Peace keeping missions world-wide,”
He added that attention would be drawn to the need to acquire and continuously maintain adequate equipment for the Nigeria Police contingents to the UN missions.
“While in the US, the IGP will also meet with the FBI Chiefs and his NYPD counterparts and State Department officials where he will, expectedly, be engaged in exchange of ideas and strategies on intelligence gathering and counter-terrorism measures and look at the possibility of obtaining modern training kits. He will also pay visit to the officials of the Nigeria House in New York, the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC and the UN Peace Keeping Department with a view to exploring areas of mutual cooperation and benefits.”
Mr. Abubakar is also expected to discuss the challenges militating against the effective and efficient deployment of the Nigeria Police personnel and equipment to peace support missions and seek the support and collaboration of the UN towards addressing those challenges.