President Muhammadu Buhari's administration, according to Special Advisor to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina, has trained 25,000 Community Policing Officers in Police Colleges across the nation.
In a statement released on Monday in Abuja, Adesina said that practically every area of the country had benefited from the interventions of the Buhari administration.
The trained policemen would assist in intelligence gathering and act as liaisons between the police and their local communities, according to the presidential aide.
He said that the Nigeria Police Bill, 2020—the first significant overhaul of police enabling legislation since the colonial Police Act of 1943—was signed into law by the president in September 2020.
According to him, the President's Office of Chief of Staff (COS) adopted the Presidential Roadmap on Police Reform, creating the Police Reform & Transformation Office (PORTO) to oversee police changes.
The President's vision for legitimate, responsible, and community-involved policing in Nigeria is captured in a Presidential Roadmap on Police Reforms that this Team has also produced.
"The Buhari Administration is rolling out the Police Specialized Services Automation Project (Po-SSAP) to block financial leakages and deepen fiscal accountability within the Force," he stated.
According to Adesina, the administration also gave the go-ahead for the nationwide launch of the Community Policing Initiative and the distribution of take-off cash.