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On Tuesday the Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, said that Nigeria is committed to collaborating with other countries of the Soptora of West Africa to combat insecurity.
He said that the nation was ready more than ever to share information with other countries in the sapper to ensure greater security for Nigeria and the rest of the countries in the sapper.
Gaidam made the disclosure at the formal delivery of the West African Police Information System (WAPI) to the national and regional authorities.
Wapis is an information system sponsored by the European Union implemented by Interpol.
The project, which has lasted for 12 years, is turning to the end and is expected that the soberness will take the property of the project, which aims to develop the infrastructure of information on the safety of the police and other relevant agencies. The project also aimed to improve the sharing of solid information on crime and other criminal activities within the sapper.
Speaking on the occasion, which was held at the Ecowas Commission in Abuja, Gaidam said Nigeria has benefited considerably since the beginning of the project.
He said that with the EU financing located at the end, his ministry has prepared a budget that is already receiving attention from the president.
Gaidam said: “Today’s ceremony symbolizes the strong commitment of Nigeria and the active role in the cooperation of regional security through the Wapis program. We continue to base ourselves on these results and collaborate to support the Wapis initiative, guaranteeing greater safety for Nigeria and the West African Region.
“Understanding of the imperative of sustainability, the Ministry of Police Affairs, in collaboration with the Nigerian police forces, has proven proactively a global budget proposal to his excellence, the president and commander in chief, the federal republic of Nigeria. I am pleased to report that this proposal is currently receiving careful attention from the President’s Office.
“Furthermore, as a further commitment to guarantee a seamless and effective operation, I personally supervised the supply of stable and reliable internet connectivity at the Dacore, facilitating continuous and effective communication with remote offices.
“In addition, in our deliberate move to encourage property and operational efficiency, the Ministry has recently organized a Wapis themed Wapis workshop” Interagency collaboration on sharing information between the police in Nigeria “. This vital seminar brought together the main parts of various law enforcement officers, with consequent strategic strategic resolutions encapsulated in a statement presented to the Federal Executive Council (Fec).
As he praised EU and other partners for the initiative, the minister also seeks the continuous support of the regional organ, stating that “while we further progress in improving regional cooperation and security through Wapi, aiming for sustainable peace and stability in West Africa”.
For its part, the president of the Ecowas Commission, dr. Omar Touray said that the Region is faced with monumental threats, some of which existential, due to its Tmgeographic position and many other factors.
He observed that through IPWAS, Ecowas is building instruments of safety infrastructure in the Member States and in addition to fighting these threats, which include the section of human beings, insecurity and other criminals.
Touray, who was represented by the Commissioner for Political Affairs of EcoWas, Peace and Security, Amb. Abdel-Fatal Musah stressed that Wapis managed to fill the gap in the area of sharing information, and this must be brought further and this will require a continuation of the Wapis agenda.
He therefore stated that “the platform, the digital platform for collection, memorization, management, sharing of information in order to improve the collaboration against crime in our region could never have started in a better time than when it did not”.
However, he said that the work is still ongoing and has not stopped with the delivery of the project to Ecowas, stating that: “Ecowas does not yet fully have, based on the Wapis agreement, completed the creation of a regional platform. Some of our Member States are also late in creating the National level to facilitate the monitoring of criminal activities in our region.
“These are very critical elements that we must continue. And we know that the sharing of intelligence is not easy because the sharing of intelligence goes to the center of national security and people will say sovereignty and then all the others.”
He also added that: “Even if the funding of the European Union is turning, we must expand the partnerships and continue to collaborate with the European Union to see what is possible in order to maintain the skills that have been developed during the Wapis process. It is very important.”
Musah, in an interview with the media, also stressed that the project is part of the infrastructures built to combat crime in the region.
However, the regret and the lack of platform by the Region expressed the regret.
He said: “You know, the duration that this process has taken. Almost 12 years have passed since it started. It tells you only about the slow rhythm that has taken. Even while we are talking, the regional platform is not ready, but are delivering. In some Member States, the inter-aging coordination mechanism is also lacking.
Something to fight crime requires a lot of political will and trust. Since crime, which is a criminal, who is not a criminal, the criminal of a man is the hero of another man. So, you have to build that common agenda.
“So the duration of it and the fact that we have not been able to complete this process are two of the challenges we have now. We hope, after this handover, while we think of everything that is happening, we will see.”
He observed that the process will require “a lot of defense to make sure to push it forward. And therefore the principle of reciprocity. Which means that we will not share our database with a region like the EU if they do not share their database with us. It must be for the same.”
“So if we give you small criminals, you have them and the large shots are in European capitals, in Latin America, then the entire exercise is useless. What you want to stop is to stop crime from the countries of origin, the transport countries, which is western Africa, and then the country of end users in Europe and others.
“So if we do not have that network that unites all these factors, then the database will be limited to our region. In terms of exchange of information, which is a good thing. But as I said before, even at that level, we have not yet arrived.”
The EU ambassador to Nigeria and Ecowas, Gautier Mignot, for his part, said that the project was successful, stating that:
“Well, we think the program was very successful, because we saw that it was adopted by individual countries. And there were about 750,000 data entered on the platform.
“Criminals, stolen cars, stolen objects, fraudulent documents, stolen documents. It led to success in the police. So this is really the reason for the lens of the program.”
He Also Said the eu will be Willing to share information with ecowas, Saying “One of the interests of such a platform is also to open the possibility of exchanged dati out of the region, out of west Africa, Also Through Interpol. The fact that interpol is so much Involution in this program, of course, is a very important. ASSET From This Point of View.
Mignot, while underlining the importance of the platform, said: “Because today the crime is transnational, very much. And therefore, if you don’t know the information that your nearby country has, you will not be able to fight crime efficiently”.
He also revealed that the project has received funding for 38 million euros in 13 years, since its start in three phases and that the third phase, which will close in a few weeks, has been financially the most important with 28 million euros in funding.
For his part, the Interpol executive director for the police service, Cyril Gout spoke of the challenge of bringing all Ecowas countries to the same digital page.
He said: “And the most urgent challenge is to have all those countries that contribute on their sides or allocating resources, but also deciding to share a legal framework. To share a legal framework, to be consistent in the information they share through the police information system. So twelve years, it is a bit, but it is only sufficient to be at the level in which we are today.”
He also stressed that it was the beginning of a new was safer. “This is the beginning of new initiatives in which governments, in which the countries of West Africa assume the property of what they have. Towards digitization, towards access to more information in the region, to bring this information for the success of the investigations, to have more security in the controls.”
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