The Nigeria Police
first participated in Peacekeeping in 1960 with the deployment of personnel to
Congo and ever since the list of countries with our peacekeepers is now
endless. Our peacekeepers have participated in operations in Congo, Namibia,
Angola, Western Sahara, Cambodia, Mozambique, Somalia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, East Timor, Kosovo, Sierra Leone,
Liberia, Afghanistan, Cote D’Ivoire, Burundi, Haiti, Sudan, South Sudan and
Guinea Bissau to mention but a few.
Establishment Of Peacekeeping Office
The Peacekeeping
office of the Nigeria Police was established in 2005 with clear vision and
mission statement hereunder. VISION: Research, Train and Deploy for Global
peace support operation MISSION: To equip personnel with requisite skills and
competencies required to meet complex peace support operations environment
through the delivery of quality internationally recognized and professional
training.
Activities Of The Directorate Of Peacekeeping
1. Recruitment/selection
of police officers and men fit for UN/AU/ECOWAS peace support operations
2. Training of officers to be deployed as
United Nations Police officers (UNPOLs) comprising of Formed Police Units
(FPUs) and Individual Police Officers (IPOs).
3. Deployment/Rotation
of Police officers to various missions areas across the globe.
4. Serve as liaison between United Nations
Department of peacekeeping operations (UNDPKO)/African Union Peace Support
Operations Department (AUPSOD) / ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) and the Nigeria
Police.
5. Give appropriate
advice to the Inspector-General of Police on matters related to UN/AU/ECOWAS
Peace support operations.
6. Monitoring of
activities of Nigeria Police officers in Mission areas through daily situation
reports from contingents.
7. Liaise with
Nigerian immigration, UNDP office and DHL on travel issues and air freighting
of contingents belongings. However, over the last 50 years, the Nigeria Police
has committed more men and materials towards keeping the peace in Africa and
elsewhere than any other on the continent. The Nigeria Police have deployed
over Twelve (12) thousand personnel to various UN/AU and ECOWAS peace support
operations. It may interest readers to know that in the year 1960 the Nigeria
police deployed the first ever contingent of Individual police officers (IPOs)
to UN mission in the Congo led by ACP Louis Edet while the pioneer Formed
Police Unit (FPU) of 120 officers and men was deployed to Liberia in the year
2004 under the command of SP Sikiru Akande.
Achievements In Terms Of Contribution To Host Countries
The following are
achievements of Nigeria Police in the area of peacekeeping:
1. While on
International assignment the Nigeria Police engaged in Capacity building for
the host country police (Local police).
2. Helped the host
countries in the conduct of free, fair and credible elections.
3. The Nigeria Police
officers also assist the host countries in Reforming and Restructuring of the
local police.
4. Nigerian
Peacekeepers helped in the Disarmament, Demobilization (DDR), and
Re-integration processes in the host countries.
Achievement In Terms Of Benefit To The Nigeria Police
1. The leadership role
of Nigeria Police as leading police contributor in global peacekeeping has led
to her participating in United Nations decision making process making her the
only African country with a permanent Police representative in United Nations
Headquarters in New York. In addition, machinery is in motion to replicate same
at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
2. Our officers are
further trained and exposed to International best practices by going through
various UN trainings aimed at capacity building. Veterans who participated in
peacekeeping return home as better polished and well informed officers who often
share competencies on return.
3. Over 12,000 veteran
peacekeepers that were trained and deployed have been awarded UN letters of
commendation and Medals for outstanding performances during their tour of duty
including the most recent medals awarded to Nigerian contingent in Southern
Sudan.
4. Trainers from the
Nigeria police have facilitated International Peacekeeping training at centres
of excellence across the globe e.g The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping
Training Center (KAIPTC) Accra-Ghana, Norway, Germany, China, Centre of
Excellence for Stability police Units (CoESPU) Vicenza, Italy, India, Russia,
the USA and Pearson Peacekeeping Center, Canada to mention but a few.