Banks and other big corporations will start paying for Police escorts and guards henceforth, according to the presidency.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the formalization of the Police Special Services on Wednesday.
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The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, announced this while briefing State House reporters on the outcome of the FEC meeting on behalf of some ministers.
He said the move was in the interest of transparency and accountability.
Shehu said: “The Minister of Police Affairs also had an important scheme which was approved at Federal Executive Council meeting.
“It is the deployment of what they call Special Police Services. And this is about a new system that will formalize what has existed with us all the time.
“You know police provide escort and guard for big corporations, banks, and so on.
“Now, in the interest of transparency and accountability, the government is formalizing this relationship.
“And there will be an introduction of tariffs and billing schemes. This will be using PPP (Public-Private Partnership arrangement).
“The police projected the use of consultant that will help them to manage this.
“Part of the revenue will go to the Federal Government. Part of it will go to the police. Part of it will go into police allowances. And part will go to consultants as their own fees.
“This is something that has been going on for many years. And it has happened virtually in all countries of the world.
“In our own case, it has remained largely, people will say, undocumented or non-formalized. Government is concerned about leakages in revenue and incomes which should be blocked.”
He said the FEC also approved contracts worth N754,048,161.25 for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for capital projects.
He said: “These are mainly for the supply of communications at the Command and Control Centre.
“This is to enable EFCC to comply with modern-day investigative techniques, improve its operational efficiency, and support the administration of the criminal justice system in the country.
“So, these are basically defensive and offensive cyber-security systems.”
Also, he stated that the Minister of Transportation had approval worth N1, 551,872,886.35 for the construction of a network of roads at the Federal Ocean Terminal at Onne, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Shehu added that the Minister of Water Resources got additional costs for the ongoing work, especially for the consultancy in the amount of N161,008,500.
This, he said, is an additional cost for the consultant who is supervising and managing Biu Mega Water Supply Project in Borno State.
He added that the overall cost had risen to N9, 361, 118, 756.25.
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