The acting Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, has launched the Standard Operating Procedure manual for the Schools Protection Squad, and organised a workshop on the Safe Schools Initiative for Strategic Police Managers on Wednesday in Abuja.
This follows the recent establishment of the SPS, a high-profile special police unit for the protection of schools and educational institutions across the country.
Noting that the initiative will commence with 18 pilot states that are more vulnerable, including the Federal Capital Territory, Egbetokun assured that the Nigeria Police Force will diligently undertake the responsibility of safeguarding educational institutions against potential harms and threats while urging all stakeholders to support the Federal Government, the police, and other partners for the achievement of the initiative
The SOP manual is a comprehensive document that provides clear guidelines for the smooth operationalisation of the SPS.
“This Standard Operating Procedure spells out the organisational framework of the unit, procedures for mobilisation, and code of conduct for officers assigned to the unit.
“It equally provides procedures for collaboration with other security agencies to ensure a coordinated approach in tackling threats to schools and educational institutions,” Egbetokun said.
The acting IGP further enumerated some of the strategies to be employed by the NPF in the achievement of the mandate of the SPS.
These include the generation of information and development of intelligence, community policing partnerships, police-public cooperation, inter-agency collaboration, security and administration of Internally Displaced Persons, deployment of logistic assets, humanitarian services, as well as training for school managers/teachers and members of the host communities on their roles in emergencies.
