Police set up radio to tackle herders/farmers clashes, others

The Nigeria Police Force has concluded plans to establish a Nigeria Police Broadcasting Service (NPBS), in a bid to tackle herders, farmers’ clashes, as well as other crimes in the country.

The NPBS is expected to

 

                                                                                      

 

kick-start operational activities across the Federation, soon.

The development is sequel to the inauguration of a 16-man board of the NPBS by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, in Abuja, last week.

The NPBS, when fully operational, will cut across general security information on air, land and sea, including homeland security policing, boarder policing and airport policing as primary focus.

The NPBS is expected to police the nation through effective communication and, with the help of Nigerians, assist the police and security agencies, lay criminal activities to rest.

The outfit consists of NPBS Television, NPBS Radio, NPBS Online and NPBS Emergency Command and Control Communication Center.

Speaking on the essence of the NPBS during its inauguration held at the police force headquarters in Abuja, said: “We will tackle security challenges such as terrorism, oil bunkering, ethnic tension, herders/farmers clashes through the use of our radio and television network.

“It will enable the police to tell its story and set the record straight by telling positive stories and correcting distorted information about the police.

“It will be used to build community relations and enhance positive relations with members of the public and also advance the community policing course of the Nigeria Police Force.”

The IGP further said that the NPBS would not be established for money-making but for the advancement of the function of the Nigeria Police Force as stipulated in Section 4 of the Police Act.

In his address, NPBS Managing Director and Chief Executive Director, Edirin Jerry Wesley, said the absence of an information outfit contributed to the low successes recorded by the Police in tackling crime in the country.

Wesley said: “It is an established fact that no nation can confront crimes headlong without credible means of factual and valid information dissemination and the absence of this over the years has been one basic defect in the fight against crime by the Nigeria Police Force.

“It is, therefore, my pride that after painstaking efforts made since 2012, the Management Team of the IGP Ibrahim Idris-led Nigeria Police Force and Sky tick Group of Companies are gathered here for the inauguration of the board, for the take-off of the Nigeria Police Broadcasting Service, which will ensure the smooth take-off of a television, radio broadcast in indigenous languages, as well as other social means of communication and information dissemination.”

Wesley further said that inauguration of the board came at the right time due to the myriad miss-information about the performances of the police in circulation, and added that the quick take-off of the NPBS will refute some misinformation.

 

He added: “One of the basic truths about the inadequacies of the Nigeria Police Force is its inability to tell its own story and I think, with the establishment of its mass media outfit,  the tendency to deny them right of showing and telling the road of its performance will be eliminated.”