Egbetokun seeks West African police chiefs’ collaboration to solve region’s security concerns
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, has urged police chiefs in West Africa to work together to find solutions to the region’s growing complicated security issues.
Egbetokun disclosed this at a meeting of the technical sub-committee on training and operations of the West African Police Chiefs Committee (WAPCCO) in Abuja.
According to him, the West African subregion has recently had to deal with difficult issues related to national security, which has made transnational crimes more prevalent.
According to him, these issues have been seriously endangering the member states’ national security arrangements and the social and economic standing of the region.
He listed the offences to include crimes of theft, cross-border robberies, drug trafficking, smuggling of small guns and light weapons, banditry, and terrorism.
He went on to say that the subregion is increasingly facing greater problems from cybercrime and cyber-enabled crimes.
The IG stated that the disparities in legislative and legal frameworks across member states posed a serious obstacle to regional law enforcement operations and efforts to provide criminal justice.
In his speech, Ambassador Abdel-Fatah Musah, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security (WAPCCO), said that the rapid advancement of information technology has led to an increased level of sophistication in the platforms and strategies employed by criminal networks to target their victims.
Represented by Dr Abdourahmane Dieng, Permanent Secretary of WAPCCO, Musah declared that crime and criminality remained a major threat to people’s lives and property in the subregion.
The commissioner stated that territorial, air, and maritime boundaries have been the primary focus of law enforcement and security personnel for a long time as critical areas for close observation against criminal activity.
He, therefore, asked the participants to share, inform, exchange, and discuss issues and activities surrounding training and operations in their various member States to develop cooperative strategies for security personnel training and operations.
The Director of the Interpol Regional Bureau in Abidjan, Paule Quedrago, stated that international police cooperation would be utilised by the Regional Office to help the efforts, given the transnational nature of the crimes.
She advised that her Office and the Permanent Secretariat of the Committee of Police Chiefs step up their cooperation.
- News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
