By JOHNSON EYIANGHO
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Usman Alkali Baba, has approved the organisation of the third edition of the Conference and Retreat for senior police officers as part of efforts to ensure stability in internal security and a safe environment conducive for the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
The conference/retreat is scheduled to hold from Oct. Â 18, 2022 to Oct. 21, 2022 in Imo State.
Spokesman for the police, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja that the theme of conference was ”The Imperative of a Nigeria Police Strategic Plan For Peaceful Elections”.
”The Conference and Retreat will assemble Senior Police Officers of the rank of Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIG), Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIG), Commissioners of Police (CP) and other Heads of Police Formations and carefully selected security and election management experts across the globe to engage in peer-review and cross fertilization of ideas on effective management of security before, during, and after the General Election in 2023.
”The retreat will also provide ample opportunity for Senior Officers of the Force to interact with key officials from sister security agencies, the nation’s electoral body and international development partners with a view to coordinating security towards free, fair, and credible General Elections in Nigeria,” Adejobi said.
He said the conference is expected to be declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari, who will also deliver the keynote address.
According to him, other guestsThe Imperative of a Nigeria Police Strategic Plan For Peaceful Elections’  expected at the event are state governors, Service Chiefs, heads of other security agencies and past Inspectors-General of Police.
He recalled that the last edition of the conference and retreat for Senior Police Officers was recently held in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital from Feb. 7 to Feb.10, 2022.
He said  the third edition was to prepare the Force to provide adequate security during the upcoming elections.
Adejobi also said the IGP has also approved a train-the-trainers workshop for officers from the rank of Deputy Commissioners of Police to Deputy Superintendents of Police which will cascade down to the least Police Constable on Election Security Management.
This, he said was scheduled to hold from 4th August to 31st August 2022 across the six Geo-Political Zones of the country as part of initiatives towards deepening the knowledge of police officers on election security operations for a peaceful, secured and credible electoral process.