The Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam on Tuesday said Nigeria remains committed to collaborate with other countries in the West African subregion to fight back insecurity.
He said the nation was ready more than ever before to share information with other countries in the subregion towards ensuring enhanced security for Nigeria and the rest of the countries in the subregion.
Gaidam made the disclosure at the formal handing over of the West African Police Information System (WAPIS) to national and regional authorities.
WAPIS is an European Union sponsored information system implemented by the INTERPOL.
The project which has lasted for 12 years is coming to a close and the sub-region is expected to take ownership of the project which aimed at developing the security information infrastructure of the police and other relevant agencies. The project also aimed at enhancing robust Information sharing on crime and other criminal activities within the subregion.
Speaking at the occasion which was held at the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, Gaidam said Nigeria has benefited greatly since the inception of the project.
He said with EU funding coming to an end, his ministry has prepared a budget which is already receiving attention by the President.
Gaidam said: “Today’s ceremony symbolizes Nigeria’s strong commitment and active role in regional security cooperation through the WAPIS Programme. Let us continue to build on these achievements and collaborate towards sustaining the WAPIS initiative, ensuring enhanced security for Nigeria and the West African Region.
“Understanding the imperative of sustainability, the Ministry of Police Affairs, in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force, has proactively submitted a comprehensive budget proposal to His Excellency, the President and Commander-in-Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am pleased to report that this proposal is currently receiving commendable attention from the Office of the President.
“Moreover, as a further commitment to ensuring seamless and effective operation, I personally oversaw the provision of stable and reliable internet connectivity at the DACORE, facilitating continuous and effective communication with remote locations.
“Additionally, in our deliberate move to foster ownership and operational efficiency, the Ministry recently organized a three-day WAPIS Workshop themed “Interagency Collaboration on Information Sharing among Law Enforcement Agencies in Nigeria.” This vital workshop brought together key stakeholders from various law enforcement agencies, resulting in strategic deliberations that were encapsulated in a communique presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).”
The minister while commending EU and other partners for the initiative, also seeks the continuous support of the regional body, saying that “as we progress further in enhancing regional cooperation and security through WAPIS, aiming for sustainable peace and stability in West Africa.”
On his part, the President of ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Touray said the region is faced with monumental threats, some of them existential, because of its tmgeographical location as well as many other factors.
He noted that through IPWAS, ECOWAS is building security infrastructure instruments across member states and beyond in order to combat these threats, which include human trafficking, insecurity and other criminalities.
Touray, who was represented by the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, Amb. Abdel-Fatal Musah, stressed that WAPIS has succeeded in bridging the gap in the area of information sharing and this needed to be taken further and that will require a continuation of the WAPIS agenda.
He therefore said that “ The platform, the digital platform for gathering, storing, managing, sharing information in order to enhance collaboration against criminality in our region could never have started at a better time than when it did.”
He however said the work is still in progress and has not stopped with the handing over of the project to ECOWAS, saying that: “ECOWAS still has not fully, under the WAPIS arrangement, completed the creation of a regional platform. Some of our member states are also lagging behind in even creating the network nationally in order to facilitate monitoring of criminal activities in our region.
“Those are very critical elements that we have to continue with. And we know that intelligence sharing is not easy because intelligence sharing goes to the very core of national security and people will say sovereignty and then all others.”
He also added that: “Even as the funding by the European Union is coming to an end, we need to broaden partnerships and still continue collaboration with the European Union to see what is possible in order to maintain the expertise that has been developed in the course of the WAPIS process. That is very important.”
Musah in an interview with the media, also stressed that the project is part of the infrastructure being built to fight criminality in the region.
He however expressed displeasure with the slow pace and the lack of platform by the region.
He said: “You know, the duration that this process has taken. It has been almost 12 years since it began. It just tells you about the slow pace that it has taken. And even as we speak, the regional platform is not ready, but they are handing over. And in some member states, even the inter-agency coordination mechanism is lacking.
Something about fighting crime requires a lot of political will and trust. Because criminality, who is a criminal, who is not a criminal, one man’s criminal is another man’s hero. So you need 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 that we have now. And hopefully, after this handover, as we think about whatever is happening, we will see.”
He noted that the process will require “a lot of advocacy to make sure we push it forward. And then the principle of reciprocity. Meaning that we are not going to share our database with a region like the EU if they do not share their database with us. It has to be on equal terms.”
“So if we give you the petty criminals, you have them and the big shots are in the European capitals, in Latin America, then the whole exercise is futile. Because what you want to stop is to stop criminality from the countries of origin, the countries of transshipment, that is West Africa, and then the country of the end users in Europe and others.
“So if we do not have that network that brings all these factors together, then the database will be limited to our region. In terms of exchange of information, which is a good thing. But like I said before, even at that level, we haven’t reached there yet.”
The EU ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, on his part, said the project has been a success, stating that:
“Well, we think the programme has been very successful, because we’ve seen that it has been adopted by the individual countries. And there were around 750,000 datas entered into the platform.
“Criminals, stolen cars, stolen objects, fraudulent documents, stolen documents. And it has led to success in law enforcement. So that’s really the reason for the objective of the programme.”
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 exchanging data out of the region, out of West Africa, also through Interpol. And the fact that Interpol is so much involved in this programme, of course, is a very important asset from this point of view. But the most important part is for each individual country to have this digital platform, and for the cooperation between the countries of the region.”
Mignot, while stressing the importance of the platform, said: “Because today, crime is transnational, very much. And so, if you don’t know the information that your neighbouring country has, you won’t be able to fight crime efficiently.”
He also revealed that the project has received funding of €38 million over 13 years, since its inception in three phases.And the third phase, which will be closing in a few weeks, was financially the most important with 28 million euros in financing.
On his part, INTERPOL Executive Director for Police service, Cyril Gout spoke about the challenge of bringing all the ECOWAS countries on the same digital page.
He said: “And the most pressing challenge is having all those countries contributing on their sides or allocating resources, but also deciding themselves to share a legal framework. To share a legal framework, to be consistent in the information that they do share through the police information system. So twelve years, it’s a while, but it’s just sufficient to be at the level where we are today.”
He also stressed that it is the beginning of a new, safer era. “That’s the beginning of new initiatives where the governments, where the countries of West Africa take ownership of what they have. Towards digitalisation, towards access to more information in the region, to bring this information for the success of investigation, to have more safety in controls.”
