The Nigeria Police Force on Friday in Abuja warned personnel of the force against giving money for selection for Peace Support Operations (PSO).
The Officer in charge of Peacekeeping, Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Lawan Jimeta, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the police force frowned at issues of indiscipline among its officers.
He said that fraudsters had opened Facebook accounts in his name and other officers with their photographs with the aim of duping unsuspecting and greedy officers.
“For the avoidance of doubt, peacekeeping selection is not done on Facebook, there are established procedures and it is not done with money,” he said.
He said that anyone requesting for money to select any officer for peacekeeping was only out to deceive such officer.
Jimeta warned that any person caught would be prosecuted according to established laws.
On behaviours of Nigerian contingent, he said that all selected officers undergo pre-deployment training in line with the UN manual.
“Discipline is the bedrock of the Nigeria Police Force, we are very serious with the issue of discipline,” he said.
He said that all police contributing countries to peace support operations had imbibed and internalised the UN training manuals.
Jimeta said that the issue of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) had been a problem in peacekeeping operations.
He added that the management of the police force was always very swift in taking action on issues of SEA.
Jimeta explained that whenever any country’s contingent got involved in such a case, they would be repatriated to their countries.
He said that Nigerian contingent had not been involved in this case, adding that the police would always ensure that it gave adequate training for its contingent.
“Our peacekeepers have been commended for their conduct,” he said.
NAN reports that the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, recently fired the head of the agency’s peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic over sex abuse allegations against peacekeeping troops. (NAN)