Government plans to convert all Nigeria Police Force vehicles into ones that use clean energy

GOVERNMENT ministers have announced plans to convert all Nigeria Police Force (NPF) vehicles into ones which use clean energy as part of its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the country's carbon footprint.

A signatory to the 2015 Paris climate Change Agreement, Nigeria is committed to reducing greenhouse gases and this involves moving away from polluting fossil fuels to clean energy. To address both problems simultaneously, Nigeria needs to step up the production of clean energy but the country is lagging far behind the rest of the world with initiatives like solar farms, wind farms and generating power from waste.

Khalil Halilu, the chief executive of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (Naseni), said that the central role of the police was to secure lives and property, which is heavily dependent on the availability of vehicles and other transportation assets. Speaking while visiting the inspector-general police, Olukayode Egbetokun at his office in Abuja, he added that transportation assets were necessary for prompt response to security emergencies.

Mr Halilu said: “Under the terms of this engagement with Naseni, we will mobilise financing and technical know-how needed to accomplish two primary objectives. To upgrade and modernise the NPF vehicle maintenance workshops nationwide and to repair, recover and reactivate all police vehicles assets that are no longer operational.

“For us at Naseni, even though we are not a security agency, we understand that we have a role to play in enhancing national security in line with the renewed hope agenda of the federal government."

Mr Egbetokun commended the Naseni boss for the visit, adding that it signifies a collaboration that will positively impact the operations of the NPF. He added: “I am excited with your offer of collaboration to convert police vehicles to cleaner energy use and I look forward to the collaboration being a reality."