SWAT Operatives Have Been Deployed In Police Commands, Says Minister

Operatives of the newly created Special Weapons and Tactics Team of the Nigeria Police have been deployed in various parts of the country.

The Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi, disclosed this on Friday when he featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

He noted that the SWAT operatives have since concluded their training and were already supporting police operations in their respective states.

“They (SWAT officers) have ended their training and they have been posted to the State Police Commands that brought them for training.

“They are there with them and they are performing the functions of the SWAT,” the minister said on the political show.

Police authorities established SWAT in October 2020 to replace the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the force.

The immediate past Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, made the announcement in response amid protests by thousands of youths across the country.

Recruiting 11,000 Personnel Annually

Tagged #EndSARS, the young Nigerians hit the streets in protest against police brutality, violation of human rights, and for the disbandment of SARS, among other demands.

Following the establishment of SWAT, about 1,850 police officers were sent on training at the Police Mobile Force (PMF) training schools in Ila Oragun, Osun State and Ende Hills, Nasarawa State.

They were later deployed in various police formations to tackle crimes, especially relating to robbery cases.

Dingyadi also spoke about what the government was doing to improve the capacity of the police to adequately tackle the security challenges in the land.

“Mr President has given us the go-ahead to recruit 10,000 police personnel every year, and this is in addition to the ones we are recruiting through the Police Academy which is about 1,000 annually.

“You can see that we are having about 11,000 and we are also thinking of employing police personnel through short-service courses and by the time we get this approval, we will be recruiting more,” said the minister.