TheCable

President Muhammadu has approved the creation of more police zonal commands across the country.

Frank Mba, police spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday that five additional zonal command headquarters will be created while the force criminal intelligence and investigations department (FCIID) will be decentralised.

He said the directives from the federal government were part of efforts to reorganise the police and enable the “full implementation of the Community Policing initiative.”

With the five new zonal commands created in Ondo, Anambra, Bayelsa, Borno and Katsina, the Nigeria police force now has 17 of such across the country.

Mba said the reorganisation also includes the full autonomy of the force intelligence bureau (FIB).

“By this re-organisation, the FIB, which was previously a section under the FCIID, is now a full-fledged Department of the Force to be headed by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG),” he said.

“With this new arrangement, the Nigeria Police Force now has eight (8) Departments and each is headed by a DIG.

“The Federal Government also approved the further decentralization of the FCID with the establishment of two additional offices in Enugu and Gombe States.

“While the office in Enugu is expected to take care of investigations of major crimes emanating from the South-East and South-South geo-political zones, the office in Gombe will take care of the North-East geo-political zone.

“Each of these Annexes, in addition to the pre-existing ones in Lagos and Kaduna States, shall be headed by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) who shall report to the DIG in-charge of the FCID, Force Headquarters, Abuja.”