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| Agbonika |
The
center, the Nigeria Police Family Support Unit (FSU), Adeniji-Adele, was
inaugurated on May, 17, 2014.
Governor Babatunde Fashola, represented by his
Senior Special Adviser on Security, Major Babatunde Panos, commended the Ford
Foundation and Justice For All (J4A) for partnering with the police, to build
the Unit, stressing that such gesture would help to improve the services of the
Force.
The divisional police officer (DPO),
in charge of Adeniji Adele Police Station, Mr. Monday Agbonika, who nursed the
idea of building such a centre for long, before its present materialization,
said: “This
vision can possibly be traced to the period when Phil Evison and his team from
J4A started the Model Police Station (MPS) project, sometime in 2011. The idea was to have designated Police
Stations nationwide as models, where initiatives would be trailed, with room
for regular adjustments, until best practices are identified, and such
practices could then be replicated in other stations.
“One
of the initiatives was the Family Support Unit.
The FSU was to be an upgrade of the traditional Nigeria police Juvenile
Welfare centre (JWC). In addition to the normal JWC cases of juvenile
offenders, missing/found children, sexual offences against minors, the FSU will
also handle all GBV (Gender Based Violence) and DV (Domestic Violence)
cases.
“After
the sound training by the highly professional team of international consultants
from the UK, some of whom were themselves police officers for many years before
consulting for the British Government, it became clear that, there was a high
incidence of GBV/DV cases in our community and cases were not being reported
because of stigmatisation and other similar considerations.”
According
to him, he had a vision to be able to focus on the victims, so that the
vulnerable section of the society would have a voice.
“We
are relying greatly on partnerships with some women groups, the Ministry of
Youths, Sports and Social Development, the judiciary, Office of the Attorney
General, Office of the Public Defender (OPD), civil society organisations like
Project Alert, Medicon, and Women Arise for Change Initiative,” he said.
He
continue: “I am therefore very delighted to announce to you, today, that Ford
Foundation bought
into this vision and made the dream come true.
I must also acknowledge the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed
Abubakar, whose reformation agenda encouraged change. Also the Commissioner of
Police Lagos State, Umar A. Manko, who gave us the opportunity and all those
who believed in us and supported us in one way or another towards the
attainment of this vision.
“Today,
we shall witness the opening of a new facility, the first of its kind in
Africa, which is equipped and staffed by best global standards, to deliver
quality services free, , to “women and children,’ survivors of domestic and
gender based violence.”
The Regional representative of Ford
Foundation in West Africa, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma said that some of the reasons
the organisation supported the project include to have a true police reform and
encouraged some best police officers to do more.
Dr. Bob Arnot, National Programme
Manager, J4A said that such unit would be built in Enugu and northern part of
the country.
The Commissioner of police in Lagos,
Mr. Umar Manko, represented by ACP Imohimi Edgal said for long they have craved
for such unit, calling on the officers and men to avail themselves for the
training by the unit.
The fear
however expressed by most of the guests at the event, is the lack of
maintenance culture prevalent in the Nigerian Police Force. Indeed Arnot summed
up thus: “At the end of the day, the unit will be supported and staffed by
Nigerians. It’s not enough to wait for the Ford Foundation.”
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