It is no longer news that the National Economic Council, NEC, has appointed the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, to chair a new committee tasked with overhauling all institutions for the training of security agencies across Nigeria. That appointment followed NEC’s endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s proposal for a comprehensive reform of security training facilities nationwide.
The proposal was presented during the 152nd NEC meeting held on Thursday 23 October at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Other members of the committee include Governors Uba Sani (Kaduna); Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Kefas Agbu (Taraba); Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom); Dauda Lawal (Zamfara) and Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), while a former Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, will serve as Secretary.
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Mr Tinubu, while addressing the NEC Council, stressed the urgency of the assignment, saying: “We have to make the conditions of the training facilities more conducive for both the trainers and trainees.” According to Governor Sani of Kaduna State, who briefed the press, the Mbah-led committee has just one month to submit a detailed blueprint for the renovation and modernisation of police and other security training institutions.
Only a few days ago, the president, in a further demonstration of a renewed effort to reinvigorate the security of lives and property, relieved the service chiefs of their assignments and appointed new ones. So, Governor Mbah’s new assignment, which came just about a day or two ahead of this major development, no doubt places him at the centre of President Tinubu’s renewed effort to strengthen Nigeria’s internal security architecture through institutional reform, improved training conditions, and enhanced capacity development for security personnel.
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This is no doubt a demonstration of President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and NEC’s confidence in the governor’s leadership qualities. But even more importantly, it is an affirmation of his giant strides in the security of lives and property barely 29 months in the saddle.
Yet this did not come as a surprise, at least to those who have keenly followed developments in Enugu since Mbah took charge at the Lion Building, as the office of the Enugu State Governor is known. For instance, on 4 October, 2024, Vice President Shettima was in Enugu to commission the Enugu State Garment and Fashion Hub as well as unveil the 5th Expanded National Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME) clinics. Both are collaborative efforts of the Federal Government and Enugu State Government to boost MSMEs in the state.
The Vice President also used the opportunity to tour some of the infrastructural projects by the Mbah administration, including the Command and Control security infrastructure built by the governor from scratch in just a little over one year in office. Then Mr Mbah had not crossed over to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. But it did not matter to the Vice President. According to him, the time for politics was over and the federal government was ready to work with visionary leaders like Governor Mbah anywhere they were found, party divides notwithstanding, in order to move the country forward.
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On the Command and Control Centre and Mr Mbah’s investment in the security sector in general, Mr Shettima said, “If I say I was impressed by what I saw in Enugu, it is an understatement. I was overwhelmed by the giant strides recorded by Governor Mbah and his team. He has embraced modernity. He has embraced digital technology. Most of the things I saw are avant-garde technologies, state-of-the-art security infrastructure. He is doing excellently well and he is worthy to be emulated by other governors across the length and breadth of this nation. He is one of the few CEOs who are versatile in the potentiality of the Information Technology industry.”
A few months later, the President himself was in Enugu on 4 January, 2025, to inaugurate some of the breathtaking projects accomplished by Governor Mbah in one year and six months, including the Command and Control Centre and over 150 security vehicles. For context and in brief, the Enugu Command and Control Centre, adjudged by many security experts as the biggest and most modern in the country at the moment, is the endpoint of many fibre optic cables laid across the state and connected to AI-embedded cameras for effective surveillance of Enugu State.
The cameras are capable of face and number plate recognition, among others. The security vehicles are manned by the Distress Response Squad, DRS, a special police unit. The vehicles are equally fitted with AI-enabled cameras. In addition, the DRS operatives wear bodycams while on duty to ensure proper monitoring.
On the occasion, Tinubu said, “He (Mbah) is doing a fantastic job. I am glad that Enugu got a very good tomorrow, today. I salute Peter Mbah for his commitment to development. You have encouraged me on the technological advancement of the state. The commitment you have from the private sector is commendable. The election is over and we have to move the nation forward. I don’t care which party you come from. You are my friend.”
Besides the President and Vice President, Governor Mbah’s strides in security had even much earlier been acknowledged by no less a person than the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu himself. That was during the commissioning of the reconstructed Economic and Financial Crimes Commission South East zonal office in Enugu on 19 December, 2023 – barely six months after Mr Mbah was inaugurated as governor.
Narrating what difference Governor Mbah had made in so short a time, Mr Ribadu declared, “Before the coming of this administration, police stations were being attacked, law enforcement personnel were being attacked. People were giving selfish orders. Those who are not even in Nigeria would sit somewhere in the comfort of the countries where they live and selfishly give instructions that people should not go to work; that people should not go out to look for their own livelihood, and people used to take such orders. But no more; it is no longer happening.”
Back to President Tinubu’s push for the revamp of all institutions for the training of security agencies. It is noteworthy that it was never a whimsical venture, but flows from a well-thought-out plan to improve security sector infrastructure and manpower, especially the security training institutions that have been so neglected over the decades that they have become thoroughly decrepit and an embarrassing assault on human dignity.
In 2013, Channels TV aired a damning report on the inhuman state of the Police Training College in Ikeja, Lagos. A Punch newspaper report of 23 April, 2016, entitled “Decay, filth rule police training colleges as new recruits warm up for resumption” recalled the eyesore as captured by Channels TV.
“The documentary showed the sad state of the dormitories, the toilets and other vital facilities needed to address the daily needs of occupants. Some students were seen urinating at the back of the building where the drainage system had broken down completely, while the toilets and bathrooms in many of the hostels were seen to be in terrible conditions. Electricity supply within the college was also a big issue. The Police College, Ikeja, which was initially built to accommodate only 700 students, housed over 2,554 occupants as at January 2013,” Punch recollected.
However, under the Tinubu administration things are changing. Only earlier this October, the President assented to the Nigeria Police Training Institutions Establishment Bill, 2024, which is a comprehensive legislation that provides statutory backing for 48 police training institutions across the country. These include Police Colleges, Police Training Schools, Police Tactical Schools, Police Technical Training Schools, and other specialised institutions scattered across the six geopolitical zones.
But the police training institutions are just emblematic of the rot affecting those of other security agencies. The good news is that this will soon become a thing of the past, for not only is it good thinking, the assignment has been handed to a well-selected team headed by Governor Mbah, a man that has exhibited not only the political will to wage war against insecurity with demonstrable success, but who has also invested heavily in modern security infrastructure and human capital development in that sector.
With this, Nigerians expect nothing but positive results that will change the narrative not just in the quality of training our security agencies receive, but also in the quality of the facilities where they are trained.
* Mr Anichukwu writes from Enugu
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