Usman Baba, the Inspector-General of Police, said that between January and November, the Nigeria Police rescued 865 people who had been kidnapped and arrested 383 suspects.
The Strategic Police Force Managers discussed this with the Inspector General of Police on Thursday in Abuja.
Managers are officials with the level of Commissioner of Police and higher.
Baba stated that during the time period under consideration, a total of 923 suspects in armed robberies, 335 suspects in homicides, and 473 suspected cult members were arrested.
The IGP stated that the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre has improved its ability to investigate cybercrime, which resulted in the arrest of 478 cybercrime suspects.
He noted that highly trained police cybercrime officers have been deployed to the centre since its inception with the backing of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to the head of police, INTERPOL has kept deploying capabilities to track and apprehend international criminal fugitives.
He reported that during the time period under examination, a total of 1,125 weapons of various types and 10,653 rounds of ammunition of varying calibres were seized during internal security operations.
In addition to 284 pipeline vandals, Baba claimed his soldiers had detained 696 terrorists, bandits, and secessionists across the country.
The police chief stated that the meeting was called to discuss operational problems related to the police mandate and to assess the force’s performance over the past year.
He added that another purpose was to establish shared policing objectives for the upcoming 2023 general elections and to examine and refine election security governance plans.
He claims that the previous year brought about a number of security issues that, in time, threatened the country’s security order and national cohesiveness.
Baba said: “Some of these threats relate to flashes of violent campaigns by terrorists and bandits in the Northern geopolitical Zones and violent secessionist activities in the South East and adjoining States by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra.
“Others are the Eastern Security Network and other pockets of factions of IPOB, all of which were bent on engaging non-constitutional means to threaten the legitimacy of government at all levels.
“Other highly organised crimes that the Force had to grapple with in the outgoing year include kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, illegal firearms trafficking and proliferation, cybercrime, gender-based violence and other transnational crimes.”
The head of police indicated that the department could overcome the dangers by revising its operational methods, acquiring new, specialised operational assets, increasing its intelligence capacity, and instituting a more purposeful police-community interactions framework.
The I-G said that the gains achieved were thanks to the sacrifice, courage, commitment, and dedication of personnel of the Nigeria Police, as well as the trust and synergy between the force, the military, the intelligence community, and other security services.
Baba declared at the end of the year, “We confronted the threats frontally, gallantly took the battle to the doorsteps of the criminal elements and successfully stabilised the internal security order as the year winds down.
“These breakthroughs would not have been achieved without the loyalty and leadership skills of all of you here seated, and for this, I specially salute your courage and commend you all for supporting my leadership.
“I trust that you shall continue to march shoulder to shoulder with my leadership towards building on the gains we have recorded so far in our onslaught against criminal elements.
“On our part, I assure you that we shall continue to offer a purposeful and all-inclusive leadership that will address your welfare, career, and operational concerns.”