Nigerian Government launches Police Specialized Services Automation Project (POSSAP)

The Police Specialized Services Automation Project (POSSAP) was launched by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Police Affairs to institutionalize transparency, accountability, and quality service delivery to Nigerians.

Dr. Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, Minister of Police Affairs, commissioned the project at the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja’s International Peace Conference Hall.

The Minister stated that my adoption of the project is based on its alignment with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s main priorities of better security, anti-corruption, and economic development.

In his words, “I took over the process of its actualization by presenting it for Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) approval, through a memorandum, which was approved by FEC on July 2021.

He stated that the Nigeria Police Department has given specialized services such as Police Character Certificates, Police Extracts, Specialized Escort Services, and Guard Services.

The existing manual way of processing the delivery of these services, according to Dingyadi, is devoid of essential precepts of accountability and transparency. As a result, the necessity to automate procedures has become critical. He was agitated.

POSSAP, according to the Minister, is not simply a Nigeria Police project, but a mechanism put in place to carry out the Federal Government’s strategy on the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI).

According to him, “It is also a strategic initiative for the reformation of the Police for improved internal security through its integration with existing national identity data repositories and enhanced welfare of its officers and men while repositioning the image and perception of the Force”.

He said “the image and perception of the Force would no longer be described by the individual actions of a few bad eggs but the collective mechanism for the prompt delivery of specialized services as encapsulated in the POSSAP project.

I am glad to inform officers and men of the Force that the recent approval by Federal Government on the new salary structure for the police was largely predicated on the complimentary revenues to be derived from the POSSAP project”.

Dr. David Ibhawoh, the Chief Executive Officer of POSSAP, stated that the program is designed to reengineer existing police internal operations and to drive specialized services for long-term infrastructure, efficiency, effectiveness service delivery, accountability, and asset optimization, adding that the entire solution was developed by indigenous young Nigerians.

Earlier, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Alkali Baba Usman, said the meeting of the police high hierarchy in Abuja was to review and evaluate strategies on a regular basis; strengthen general security in the country; internal security operations against banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, and high-violence crimes; interfacing with field commanders and political trends; assess possible threats; sharpening strategy ahead of the 2023 elections.

He continued, “The concept of POSSAP is to enjoy police specialized services, which is a global practice, and to ensure standardization of the process of offering police services; guarantee accountability, and act as supplemental revenue to augment personnel welfare and finance basic needs such as the provision of operation tools.”