Apprehension as Police
Apprehension as Police Plan Relocation of PR School from
Ilorin to Nasarawa
There is palpable anxiety over a plan to relocate Nigerian Police
School of Public Relations (NPSPR) in Ilorin, capital of Kwara
State to Nasarawa, the home state of the acting Inspector General
Police, Mohammed Adamu.
The construction works going on in the school has been suspended
pending further directives from the police hierarchy.
Situated on a vast land lawfully owned by the Nigerian Police in
Ilorin, NPSPR is among key infrastructural projects captured in
FG’s Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERPG) of 2017 – 2020.
Nigeria police school of public relations
NPSPR Project Site Ilorin
Documents obtained by PRNigeria indicates that the Police School
of PR School project, which was conceived by the Police Management
in 2017 was approved by the Presidency and captured in the 2018
budget by the National Assembly.
The former IGP Ibrahim Idris had in July 2017 inaugurated a
Committee of Professionals, Senior Police Officers and Force PRO to
set up the Nigeria Police Public Relations School.
With the endorsement of the Nigeria Institute of Public
Relations (NIPR), the police management team approved a memo from
the then Force Public Relations Officer Jimoh Moshood, on the
establishment of the school in Ilorin and the appointment of CP
Emmanuel Ojukwu (rtd) as the provost.
The contract for the project was awarded and payment made to the
Contractor who immediately commenced the construction of the
structures that include Auditoriums, Classrooms, offices and other
facilities in the school.
Police PR School under construction in Ilorin
The ground-breaking foundation laying ceremony of the School in
Kulende area of Ilorin was performed by Assistant Inspector General
of Police in charge of Works, AIG Olalekan Oladipupo in the
presence of eminent personalities including retired top police
officers and traditional rulers.
Receiving top police delegation in his palace after the
foundation laying ceremony, the Emir of Ilorin praised the federal
government for siting the image-making school in Kwara State and
pledged the support of the people in ensuring the speedy completion
of the project in the Emirate.
The Provost of the school, a retired Commissioner of police,
Emmanuel Ojukwu said the school project was a further confirmation
of the desire of the leadership to bequeath to the police and the
entire nation a platform for the proper training and development of
the police personnel on the art and science of public relations in
a most conducive, peaceful and central city (Ilorin) in
Nigeria.
Police PR School Foundation Stone
However, the planned relocation of the project to another state
in the North-Central has generated a lot of controversies as people
are wondering that how could a project of such magnitude that went
through all due processes overnight be relocated from its original
site to another state despite the level of work already carried out
on the site.
Commenting on the issue, the Chairman of Third-Estate Forum, a
think-tank group in Ilorin Emirate, Mallam Ahmed Bolaji Nagode
maintained that Ilorin town remains the best option for siting such
a landmark project.
Nagode said: “The work in the school has been suspended as we
learn authoritatively that the current police hierarchy is planning
to relocate the project to Nasarawa State. The current location of
Nigeria Police School of Public Relations in Ilorin, a major town
that links the South and North, made it central and accessible to
all parts of the Country. Don’t forget that it also has an
International Airport for air travellers and higher institutions of
repute that could support the school academically.
“There is therefore no justification for PR School to be
relocated to anywhere else. We had seen how some key Federal
Government’s institutions were relocated to other states in the
past. We can’t continue to tolerate that considering the fact that
the latest project was passed into law by the National Assembly and
was approved by President and Commander-in-Chief, Muhammadu
Buhari.”
The Force PRO, Frank Mba, however, denied the claim that the
NPSPR’s project was either stopped or suspended pending its
relocation to Nasarawa State when PRNigeria called him.
By PRNigeria