The Federal Government has expressed readiness to partner and support the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) and the West African Police Information Programme (WAPIS), in its efforts to end criminality in the country.
The Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, made this disclosure when the INTERPOL Executive Directorate Police Services, Mr. Kavanagh Stephen, paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja, on Tuesday.
The Minister further noted that the Federal Government has ensured that WAPIS and INTERPOL were on the ground in the country and that it is willing to work with and support the effort the organizations are making to ensure that the country is crime-free.
According to the Minister: ”The issue of criminality in many parts of the country is complex and varies from different locations.
“We need to put heads together and work as a team to ensure that we have what it takes to check criminality in the country”
Dr. Dingyadi recalled the challenge of lack of synergy among security agencies due to the inability to share information despite huge data from different agencies.
He reiterated that coordinating organizations like WAPIS and INTERPOL have improved cooperation among different agencies in the country.
“We are working together as a team to ensure that we fight these criminals to the end. On our part, we will do whatever it takes to support you and ensure improved police service delivery in the country.
“We have a lot of criminal issues and we require cooperation and support from anywhere that will assist us to curb these criminalities,” the Minister said.
Speaking earlier, the INTERPOL Executive Directorate of Police Service, Mr. Kavanagh Stephen, said that his organization has mapped out strategies to tackle insecurity in all the Member State of the Economic Communities of West African States.
According to him, in the new world, they look out and see how people projected their arms, and move money, drugs, child abuse, scamming of others, terrorist finance, and their cells across the borders with impunity and the need to stop and disrupt their activities by sharing information.
“We can use all information from the security, border and intelligence agencies can bring together to share more data effectively across the world.
“We are not here to have a nice time; we are here to make sure we understand how WAPIS can support West Africa to share data that exist among the security agencies effectively,” he said.