The Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force Kayode Egbetokun has denied allegations of ill-funding, corruption, and meager budgetary allocations to Police divisions, and ordered an immediate investigation.
According to the statement released on Friday 25th October by the Nigeria Police Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, stated that “the Police debunked the recent disparaging article titled: Nigeria Police Force Face Funding Scandal: N15,000 Allocation for 3 Months Sparks Corruption Concerns, published by Ecos Intelligence and considers such write up fake, misleading and inaccurate as no Divisional Police Officer of the Nigeria Police Force would grant such an interview filled with so many derogatory inaccuracies, unless an impostor,” ACP Adejobi stated.
Stating further, ACP Olumuyiwa in his statement, insisted that “contrary to the referred published report that Divisional Headquarters receive no budgetary allocation and that officers rely solely on unofficial sources of funds for operations, including bail payments, the Police Authority maintains that Divisional Police Officers receive statutory funding based on established allocations from the Federal allocation coupled with support from their respective State Governments. Any contrary assertion as contained in the publication is not only false but a calculated attempt to run down the system and discredit the police authority,” he said.
He continued:
“Subsequent upon the highly misleading and scandalous publication, the Inspector General of Police Egbetokun has ordered an immediate investigation to identify those responsible for this deliberate misinformation. While we acknowledge that inadequate funding has long been a challenge for the police, the current government has demonstrated commitment to increasing funding to enhance operations and improve policing capabilities and overall effectiveness. The funding situation, in recent times, has begun to show notable improvement with promising prospects for further enhancement in the upcoming year.
The Nigeria Police Force thereby reiterates its commitment to the principle of transparency in the course of discharging its duties and warns mischief makers to desist from attempts to detract and malign its progress, as the Force will not permit malicious individuals to continue to disparage the institution or slander its dedicated officers who toil day and night to secure our nation,” the statement added.