President Muhammadu Buhari on wednesday approved the creation of five new zonal commands of the Nigeria Police Force.

He also directed the reorganisation of the departments of the force, notably the Force Intelligence Bureau and the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID).

The five newly created commands are Ondo/Ekiti command with headquarters at Akure, Ondo State; and Enugu/Anambra/Ebonyi Command with headquarters in Ukpo-Dunukofia in Anambra State.

Others are Balyelsa/Rivers command with headquarters in Yenogoa,Bayelsa State; Katsina/Kaduna command with headquarters in Katsina; Yobe/Borno command with headquarters in Maiduguri, Borno State.

In the new command structure arrangement, Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) is formally excised from FCID to become a full-fledged department to be headed by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG).

A statement signed by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, said the new structure is expected to fully integrate intelligence-led policing strategy and community policing.

Mr Buhari, who is the chairman of Nigerian Police Council, also approved the decentralization of FCID in line with the principle of community policing.

The statement said two additional annex offices of the department is to be established in Enugu to take care of investigations of major crimes emanating from the South-east and South-south geo political zones, while the second in Gombe State would take care of investigations from the North-east geo-political zone.

He said the new annex offices are in addition to the existing anex offices in Lagos and Kaduna, while the FCID annex offices in Lagos, Kaduna, Enugu and Gombe states would be headed by Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs) who are to report to the DIGs in charge of the FCID, at the Force Headquarters Abuja.

Buhari also approved a new structure for the four police colleges in the country located in Kaduna, Ikeja, Maiduguri and Orji-River, which is geared towards training and capacity development of the junior cadre of the force.

“The president approved that the status of the commandants of the colleges be upgraded to the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG). This will strengthen administration, enhance the commitment of staff and engender higher level of discipline and the quality of training at the colleges,” it said.

The statement noted that the approvals were granted in order to expand and strengthen the intelligence department towards driving the intelligence-led policing strategy of the force leadership and to aid in the entrenchment of the community policing practice as approved by federal government.

Thisday