President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday fired Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Hafiz Ringim and replaced him, in an acting capacity, with Mr. Mohammed D. Abubakar, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police.
A statement from the presidency in the capital city of Abuja quoted President Jonathan as saying the action is a prelude to repositioning the force to make it more effective and capable of meeting emerging internal security challenges.
Also fired along with the IGP are all Deputy Inspectors-General Police, an indication of the President’s seriousness about reorganizing the force, which has so far proved incapable of tackling the Islamic sect Boko Haram, which has killed 935 people in 164 attacks since July 2009.
The President also established a Special, eight-member committee ‘to oversee the urgent reorganization of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF)’
The committee, to be headed by the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mr. Parry B.O Osayande, a retired police DIG, is tasked with identifying the challenges and factors militating against effective performance in the NPF and make recommendations for addressing the challenges; and to examine the scope and standard of training and other personnel development activities in the force to determine their adequacy or otherwise.
Other tasks expected to be carried out by the committee includes to determine the general and specific causes of the collapse of public confidence in the police and recommend ways of restoring public trust in the institution; to examine records of performance of Officers and Men of the NPF, with a view to identifying those that can no longer fit into the system due to declining productivity, age, indiscipline, corruption and/or disloyalty; And to make any other recommendations for the improvement of the force.
The measures came six days after Boko Haram carried out its single biggest attack, in the northern city of Kano, that left 185 dead.
The President’s action also followed the escape of a suspected leader of Boko Haram from police custody in suspicious circumstances