The new Commissioner of Police in charge of Western Ports of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) ;Mr. Celestine Okoye said yesterday that he would relocate the Western ports Command of the Nigerian Police from Marina to Apapa to give him enough room for closer supervision.
Mr. Okoye who spoke during his maiden meeting with DPO’s and Area Commanders in Apapa, Lagos, said that the Marina office will remain an annex and that he will also be working from there.
He said that in Marina you cannot turn out gas or service their fire arms because it will disturb members of the public but in Apapa, they will have enough space to do all that.
Speaking during the parley, he promised the command’s readiness to work with other security agencies to move the industry forward.
“I am here discussing with my DPO’s and Area commanders and some sectional heads on the way forward. Secondly, the Western Command Headquarters of the Nigerian police is in the Wharf here now. It is in this office we are speaking from now, so this office is the office of the Commissioner of Police, Western ports. The other office in Marina remains as an annex; we will be working there also. To give me enough room for close supervision. In the marina area, you cannot turn out gas, because there will be reaction from members of the public. A lot of things we do we can’t do it at the marina office. If we are to service our fire arms there is no way we can do it there because as we service, we fire shots on the air to confirm that our arms are in perfect condition and it will embarrass the public when we fire arms. But in this place we want to establish a total headquarters here and that is what we are doing. So we are discussing well on how to move the place and the ports forward. The police will not hesitate to deal with any person that misbehaves”.
Speaking further of the issue of traffic in Apapa, Western Command boss stated that the truckers are the major cause of the traffic.
He also maintained that he would still call a meeting with the stakeholders to proffer solution to the problem.
“At times when we call these truckers to talk to them, they do not listen but when you talk to them, they might listen to you. I will still call a meeting of the stakeholders and talk to them on the issue of this traffic. Everybody has to arrange themselves. At Tin Can there was no movement at all on Sunday as the road was completely blocked”.
The boss also spoke on extra judicial killing, evens he said that he Police do not tolerate it, he said that the force does not allow anybody to waste life even as he begged the public not to look down on security officers when instructions are given to them.
“The problem of extra judicial killing, you know quite well that we do not tolerate it, in the police hierarchy; we hate it because nobody is allowed to go and waste life. So that will be taken care of as far as I am concerned. But at times, I want to beg members of the public the way they look down on security agencies when they are asked to perform their duties is not good”
On the recent killing of truck driver in Apapa, he said “I heard the driver parked in front of the bank. Two wrongs cannot make a right, when the driver was approaching the bank he must have seen an order telling him not to park there. The police man didn’t do well, but is the driver a daft? We blame the police but the public have their own blame, the police man didn’t do well, but the driver also didn’t do well. If every day we bash the police even when we do our best nobody praises us, but the moment we do anything wrong the whole world will hear about it. Can’t we be praised for doing something good one day? It is only in Nigeria that such things happen. Police is never praised, they are seen as ‘Mr. Wrong’ in everything they do, we have effected a lot of arrest on these kidnappers and at the end nobody we appreciate them” he concluded.
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