Nigeria Police Inaugurates Dog Breeding Centre

The Nigeria Police has inaugurated the Police Dog Breeding Centre and Ultra Modern Mounted Troop in Abuja on Thursday.

The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr Solomon Arase, said the Nigeria Police Force had spent over N600 million on the procurement and maintenance of foreign dogs in the last few years.

The IGP made this known during inauguration of the Centre.

Arase said that this was not certainly sustainable in the face of the current dwindling resources and the Police was spending much on the importation of foreign dogs that rarely adapt to the country’s policing objective.

He said that the projects inaugurated were funded within the budgetary provisions of the Force Animal Branch, which had remained underutilised in the past.

He said that the centre was built to aid the police acquire capacity to locally breed police dogs as well as support other security agencies in the country.

The Police boss said that the centre if effectively utilised, would save the nation some foreign exchange that would have gone into procurement of dogs from foreign countries.

The IG said that the centre had the capacity to breed and supply police dogs to the entire West African sub-region.

He said that the establishment of the facilities was part of the long term strategies aimed at restoring police primacy and aligning it to best global standards.

In a remark, the Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, said the projects were timely considering the current security challenges facing the country.

Dambazau said that Nigerians deserved a police that was competent and reliable.

He said that the projects would not only reduce spending but would also provide job opportunities for other Nigerians aside from the police.

The high point of the occasion was a display by police dogs and award presentation to the Minister of Interior, Arase, and Mr Mike Okiro, Chairman, Police Service Commission, among others.