CP Hafiz Mohammed Inuwa of Delta State and NDDC Acting Executive Director, Projects, Dr Cairo Ojougboh

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has unveiled the N450 million COVID-19 pandemic medical equipment donated by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, for the protection of men of the Nigeria Police Force in the Niger Delta region.

Launching the equipment, which included Intelligent Disinfection Doors, at the Delta State Police Headquarters in Asaba, the police IG said that they would go a long way in assisting the police to serve the public better.

In a Press Statement by Charles Obi Odili, Director, Corporate Affairs  saidAdamu, who was represented by of the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Mohammed Inuwa, thanked the NDDC for the gesture, noting: “In our detention facilities we have other members of the society, who for one reason or the other find themselves there. The medical equipment and palliatives will help us to protect everyone in our facilities and ensure good sanitary conditions for them.” 

“We thank President Muhammadu Buhari and the NDDC for finding it expedient and important to provide these palliatives for us. We are happy that they saw the need to protect the lives of our police men, many of whom are vulnerable to the Covid-19 disease.”

He stated that organisations partnering with the police bolster their confidence to perform their security functions well, adding that such collaboration would also help to protect the lives of police men and even members of the society who find themselves in police detention facilities.

In his remarks, while handing over other medical supplies at the Police Officers Mess in Asaba, the NDDC Acting Executive Director, Projects, Dr Cairo Ojougboh, stated that the COVID-19 intervention was meant to complement the efforts of the Federal Government in checking the spread of the Coronavirus disease.

He emphasised that the intervention was necessary because it was important to assist the police force to protect its members from falling victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: “Whether we accept it or not, the police are the best friends of good people in the society. They protect us and without them, we will be in serious trouble. So we have to do everything possible to make sure that they are assisted to do their job.”

Ojougboh observed that the medical palliatives, which included local fabrics of face masks, hand sanitisers, thermometers, hand gloves and disinfection machines, would be distributed to all police commands in the Niger Delta region.

He said: “All these palliatives we are distributing would not have been possible in the past because some people in the National Assembly will divert the funds. Before now, the two chairmen of NDDC committees in the two chambers of the National Assembly were the de facto managers of the NDDC.

“When the IMC came on board, we said that we cannot continue on that path. We want to assure Nigerians that we will no longer allow the chairmen to arm twist us. You have seen the probe in the National Assembly where the lawmakers are the prosecutors, and the judge in their own case.

“We thank the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Nigerians for standing by the Interim Management Committee, IMC. We assure that we will continue to deliver on the mandate of the NDDC.”

Ojougboh had earlier paid a courtesy visit to the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Chike Edozien, at his palace, where he informed him of the launching of the COVID-19 medical equipment and briefed him on what was going on in the NDDC.

 He told the Asagba that the NDDC was in the grip of some national lawmakers whose activities, he alleged, were stumbling blocks and should, therefore, be critically examined for Nigeria to move forward.

“They want to take the NDDC back to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which supervised it for about 15 years. In those years, N3 trillion was committed and the SGF and the National Assembly didn’t see what was happening. Now that the NDDC has started to make progress, should it return to where it came from?

 “I am 60 years old now. So if I don’t say the truth now, when will I say it? Your majesty, be assured that I have not stolen and I will not steal.”

 In his response, Obi Edozien asked to be briefed on the place of Asaba in the activities of the NDDC. “I ask because I am not seeing much of the benefits,” he said.

The Asagba, however, noted that Ojougboh was always welcome in Asaba as one of his chiefs, noting: “We did not make any mistake to confer on you the Akinuwa of Anioma.”