By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Almost one year after the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, its Board of Trustees will be inaugurated in Abuja today, TheNiche can authoritatively and exclusively report.
The Board is chaired by former Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba.
Presidency sources informed TheNiche that the Board members were informed of the inauguration on Friday. It is not yet clear whether the inauguration ceremony will be performed by President Buhari or the Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi.
The Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill was signed into law by the president on June 14, 2019.
But it was not until May 6 that the membership of the Board was announced.
A statement by Mallam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said constituting the Board was in “furtherance of the Buhari administration’s commitment and drive to retooling policing architecture in the country by emplacing the Police Trust Fund to meet the aspiration of a well-funded, equipped and highly professional Nigeria Police Force in line with international best practices.”
Shehu said the same objective informed Buhari’s re-establishment of the Ministry of Police Affairs on August 20, 2019.
The statement said, “Pursuant to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Establishment Act 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of retired Inspector-General of Police, Barrister Suleiman Abba, CFR, Mni, as Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund.”
Other members of the Board include Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto – Executive Secretary, Mr Nnamdi Maurice Mbaeri – Representing Ministry of Police Affairs, Inspector-General of Police – Representing Nigeria Police Force, Usman Bilkisu – Representing Ministry of Justice, Mr Ben Akabueze (DG, Budget and National Planning) – Representing Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Engr. Mansur Ahmed – Representing Organised Labour, and Dr. Michael Bamidele Adebiyi – Representing Civil Society Group.
The duties of the Trust Fund according to the enabling Act include training, overall improvement of personnel of the Nigeria Police Force in the discharge of their duties, purchase of equipment, machineries and books and the construction of police stations and living facilities for the Nigeria Police Force.
As an interventionist agency designed to cover all police personnel, including auxiliary staff in Nigeria and abroad, the Trust Fund, which is to operate for a period of six years, will get 0.5 per cent of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account; a levy of 0.005 per cent of the net profit of companies operating in Nigeria; any take-off grant and special intervention fund as may be provided by the Federal, State or Local Government; monies appropriated by the National Assembly in the budget to meet the objective of the Act; aids, grants and assistance from international agencies, non-governmental organisations and the private sector; grants, donations, endowments, bequests and gifts (whether of money or property) from any source; and money derived from investment made by the Trust Fund, which are exempted from income tax.
