The Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Dingyadi has pledged the commitment of the federal government to collaborate with the Sierra Leonean government on the policing of the two countries.
Dingyadi said this on Tuesday in Abuja during a courtesy visit by a delegation from Sierra Leone led by Mr David Panda-Noah, the Sierra Leonean Minister of Internal Affairs.
He said the collaboration was to promote the already established synergy between the countries to ensure the security of lives and property in the sub-region.
The minister said the history of relationship between the two countries had been a long standing one with diplomatic relations in existence for several decades.
According to him, the relationship has been on since the era of slave trade and they have been in the forefront in the struggle to ensure that the two countries continue to remain independent.
He said the two countries had since, continued to remain together even with the experience of civil wars at different times.
“Today you will see very clear mark of brotherhood, togetherness and oneness between Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
“When the Inspector General of Police (I-G) told me about admitting some of your police officers into our National Institute of Police Studies, I contacted the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“The minister told me it was very good idea and that I support the initiative because of the long standing relationship between the two countries.
“I want to inform you that in addition to the National Institute of Police Studies for senior police officers, we also have other police training colleges for intermediate and junior police officers,” he said.
He said the Nigeria Police would be ready at all times to admit police officers from Sierra Leone who would be ready for training at junior, middle and senior level into the training colleges.
In his remark, Panda-Noah said the visit was to witness the graduation ceremony of a team of police officers from Sierra Leone, graduating from the National Institute of Police studies.
He said the officers had been in Nigeria for two months for the course and would be graduating on Thursday.
The minister said the course being undertaken by police officers from Sierra Leone was important in view of the need for the officers to understand developments in other parts of the world.
Panda-Noah said Sierra Leone would not forget the blood of Nigerians shed in the 1990s to help the country out of civil war.
