Police officers receive leadership training for modern policing

Senior police officers were on Thursday in Abuja for training on leadership skills to meet up with modern policing to develop the police force, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The Inspector-General of Police ( IG), Solomon Arase, said at the opening of the training with the theme "Imperatives of Leadership in an ethically driven Nigeria Police’’ that skills were important to the police leadership framework.

Represented by the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Mr Job Doma, Arase said that the two-day training was in partnership with the Continental Business and Leadership School, Abuja.

He said a police officer was the focal point of responsible leadership within any given community.

He added that "all too often than not, police officers find themselves in very challenging and multi-tasking situations that require flexible adaptation to rapidly fluid and changing scenarios.

"The officer is called upon to take a decision which has impact on the lives of people and the safety of the community itself.

"This is what is commonly called the use of police discretionary authority and how officers decide to do this has serious implications on the police and the larger community.’’

The police boss said Nigeria was moving toward consolidating its democracy and the police institution must be the vanguard of positive change.

"This can only be attained by creating pool of leadership and managerial talent cutting across all strata of the Nigerian police,’’ he noted.

He then urged officers undergoing the training to develop the skills and talent of their subordinates in order to leave lasting legacies behind.

Mr Reginald Bobmanuel, the Chief Executive Officer and CEO of Continental Business and Leadership School, Abuja, said the training was meant to impart great leadership qualities in men and officers of the force.

He said "we have always been in partnership with the police force; in the year 2010, we trained the whole police force in counter terrorism.’’

The training was aimed at building the capacity of 100 senior police officers of the Nigeria Police Force and to equip them to meet the accepted global norms in modern day policing.