NIGERIA (Abuja)- The Federal Government has earmarked  N1.5 trillion in the next five years for the reformation of the Nigeria Police Force.

This was disclosed yesterday in Makurdi, Benue State, by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan at a two-day retreat on Sustaining Nigeria Police Reforms organized by the Police Service Commission (PSC), in conjunction with the Benue State Government.

Speaking through his representative, Senator Bala Mohammed, who is the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, President Jonathan said 60 % of the money would be provided by government, while the remaining 40 % would be catered for by the private sector.

He urged the commission to always work assiduously in building a police force devoid of blemishes and questionable characters, adding that the Federal Government had accepted the recommendations of the Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi’s committee on the police and would soon issue a white paper on it.

In his address, the Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, urged the police to imbibe the discipline of being accountable to the elected representatives of the people.

He called on the police to redouble their efforts in providing security to the people, especially as the country was drawing closer to elections.

In the same vein, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, spoke on the need to review the training curricula and upgrade the training institutions of the police so as to improve the standard of Police in the country.

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, said the police management, had aligned its policies with the recommendations of previous reform committees.

Mr. Abubakar said the essence of the alignment was to strengthen the police for effective service delivery in line with international best practices. He also appealed to the PSC to approve the decentralisation of the powers to promote and sanction officers.