The Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Maritime Command, Mrs. Kalafite Adeyemi, has appealed to the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to help in providing weapons for to enable it secure the nation’s seaports.
Kalafite made this appeal yesterday when she paid a courtesy visit with some top members of the Command to the General Manager, Western Port of NPA, Engr. Adeyemi Odunsi.
“The tools we are begging you as partners to help us out too, we have but they are not sufficient, we don’t mind if you continue your usual contribution to the Western Port Police, we want it to continue,” Adeyemi said.
Responding to the AIG’s request, Odunsi said NPA Western Port would do everything possible to support the police.
He said, “In our usual characteristics, we will resolve the one that is within our capacity and the one beyond us will be taken to the headquarters through the AGM security to the authority so that we can continue to work together amicably and after my sojourn at Western Port, the incoming management will do their best to make a better policing for all.”
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner of Police, Western Ports, Mrs. Hilda Ibifuro-Harison told the AIG that officers had been ejected from their barracks because the barracks had been concessioned by NPA.
She also lamented inadequate manpower in her command, logistics, accommodation and lack of electricity supply for officers staying at the command.
“Also, we face the challenge of accommodation for police officers. Today, most of my men live at the barracks and very many live outside and we have a peculiar situation that out barracks has been concessioned out and I have been making efforts to see how the men can be relocated by the management of NPA.
“The command has challenges while performing our duties which this is normal. Part of the challenges includes inadequate manpower, though, it cannot be enough but we must make do with what we have.
“We also face the challenges of inadequate logistics, it remained with us forever, and we must have a culture of maintenance as the very little we have if we maintain it, it will perform the task.
“And officers have no light for about seven years and the sanitary situation is a no-go area and I have advised them to make do with what they have to ensure they keep living in good healthy condition to perform their duties,” she said.
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