Police spends N600m on procurement of Dogs

The Nigerian Police Force have commissioned the Force Dog Breeding Center and Ultra modern Mounted Troop Stable.

As the projects would not only reduce spending but would also provide job opportunities for other Nigerians aside from the police.

Speaking during the commissioning in Abuja, the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau commended the police leadership for its visionary stance, noting that the dog breeding center will be of huge benefits to the nation not just in counter terrorism operations but also helping the Nigeria Immigration Service in detecting and preventing crime in Nigeria's over five thousand kilometers borders.

The Minister also opined that the center will support the employment drive of the Buhari Administration, as some civilians expertise might be needed to champion the idea.

Earlier, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Solomon Arase noted that the facilities at the Mounted Troop Unit in Garki which was established for the purposes of fighting crime and ceremonial duties in 1982 were no longer fit for those purposes due to age long neglect and limited budgetary attention.

‎The IGP further stated that the construction of the Dog breeding Centre was conceptualised to aid the Nigeria Police acquire capacity to locally breed Police Dogs and be self reliant in dog breeding, thereby saving the nation over 600 million naira hitherto spent on police dogs importation.

He disclosed that the center has the capacity to conveniently breed and supply police dogs to the entire West African Sub-region, as it can produce well over 200 dogs per year.

IGP Arase also says that the establishment of the facilities are part of the well thought out long term strategies aimed at restoring police primacy and aligning policing in Nigeria to best global standards.

The high point of the occasion was a display by police dogs and award presentation to the Minister of Interior, Arase and Mike Okiro, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, among others.