PRIVATE-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP: A SURE WAY OUT OF NPTF FUNDING CHALLENGES-JAMES

 

 

L-R: Executive Secretary, Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) Muhammed Sheidu, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs (MPA), Mr. James Sule during an official briefing of the (NPTF) Management led by its Executive Secretary, to the Management of MPA at the Headquarters of the Ministry in Abuja.

Group seated L-R: Director Finance & Accounts (NPTF), Omotesho Olubunmi Executive Secretary, Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) Muhammed Sheidu; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs (MPA), Mr. James Sule; Director Planning Research and Statistics (MPA), Mrs. Margaret Azeez; Director Finance & Accounts (MPA), Okehie Isaac Tochukwu and others Management staff during an official briefing of the (NPTF) Management led by its Executive Secretary, to the Management of MPA at the Headquarters of the Ministry in Abuja.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs (MPA), Mr. James Sule has pointed out that private-public partnership and engagement are the surest ways for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) to address its funding challenges.

He stated this recently during an official briefing of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) Management led by its Executive Secretary, Mr. Muhammad Sheidu to the Management of MPA at the Headquarters of the Ministry in Abuja.

He said that the Ministry is aware that the Agency is underfunded and the need to use the scarce resources at its disposal judiciously and urged NPTF Management to look into the problems of the Police, especially training, equipment in order to motivate them to deliver world-class police to be proactive and responsive to the security challenges in the country.

In his words, “We must be proud of ourselves in discharging our duties and doing the right things. Nobody will come from outside to turn the situation around. Everything starts and ends with leadership and in our corners, we are leaders. We must not work in silos but synergizes to ensure effective and efficient service delivery of the police ecosystem to the citizens”.

He added that if the enabling environment is good, the Nigeria Police will perform and urged the Management to cooperate and support the new Executive Secretary to enable the marriage of the private and public sector experiences for the good of the system.

According to him, “We are aware that the perception of the police, civil servants including public servants is not encouraging. We have to search ourselves and encourage ourselves to change and imbibe attitudinal change and avoid poor response to citizens' needs and engagement”.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) Muhammed Sheidu, informed the Permanent Secretary that the Agency has fully implemented its Year 2020 and 2021 Capital Projects in line with the 2007 Procurement Act, while the police training programmes for 2022 and 2023 have been implemented.

He enumerated challenges facing the Agency such as low Budgetary Provision since the inception of NPTF in 2019; and the untimely release of Capital Appropriation which affected the early implementation of the NPTF activities. Adding that the allocation of the 0.5% of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account to NPTF is low and the release of levy (0.005%) of the net profit of companies operating businesses in Nigeria to the Trust Fund is irregular and very low.

 

In his words, “We are engaging with relevant Stakeholders to explore areas of collaboration and the Stakeholders' engagement is a continuous exercise. It is expected that when MOUs are perfected with the respective organizations, additional funds will be attracted to finance the provision of Equipment, machinery, Construction of Police Stations, Living Facilities Training and Welfare of the Nigeria Police Force and its auxiliary staff”.

 

 

Bolaji Oladimeji Kazeem

Deputy Director (Information and Public Relations Unit)

August 19, 2024