The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr Solomon Arase, has said that the<\/p>\n
Nigeria Police Force had spent over N600 million on the procurement and
\nmaintenance of foreign dogs in the last few years.<\/p>\n
Arase made the disclosure at the inauguration of the Police Dog Breeding
\nCentre and Ultra Modern Mounted Troop in Abuja on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is certainly not sustainable in the face of the current dwindling
\nresources,\u201dhe said.<\/p>\n
The IG said that so much money was being spent on the importation of dogs
\nfrom foreign countries that rarely adapted to the country\u2019s policing
\nobjective.<\/p>\n
He said that the projects inaugurated were funded within the budgetary
\nprovisions of the Force Animal Branch.<\/p>\n
Arase said that the force animal branch had remained underutilised in the
\npast while the force continued to rely on importation of dogs and other
\nanimals for its operations.<\/p>\n
He said that the centre was built to aid the police acquire capacity to
\nlocally breed police dogs as well as support other security agencies in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
The Police boss said that the centre if effectively utilised, would save
\nthe nation some foreign exchange that would have gone into procurement of
\ndogs from foreign countries.<\/p>\n
The IG said that the centre had the capacity to breed and supply police
\ndogs to the entire West African sub-region.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is projected that at optimal breeding capacity, it can produce well
\nabove 200 dogs per year,\u201che said.<\/p>\n
He said that the establishment of the facilities was part of the long term
\nstrategies aimed at restoring police primacy and aligning it to best
\nglobal standards.<\/p>\n
In a remark, the Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman
\nDambazau, said the projects were timely considering the current security
\nchallenges facing the country.<\/p>\n
Dambazau said that Nigerians deserved a police that was competent and
\nreliable. He said that the projects would not only reduce spending but
\nwould also provide job opportunities for other Nigerians aside from the
\npolice.<\/p>\n
The high point of the occasion was a display by police dogs and award
\npresentation to the Minister of Interior, Arase, and Mr Mike Okiro,
\nChairman, Police Service Commission, among others. NAN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr Solomon Arase, has said that the Nigeria Police Force had spent over N600 million on the procurement and maintenance of foreign dogs in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n