Pascal Arogorn Ibe
The British Government has said it trained and equipped operatives of the disbanded Special Anti -Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force between 2016 and March 2020.
UK Minister for Africa , James Duddridge , made this known in a letter to a member of the British Parliament , Kate Osamor.
The lawmaker had earlier written the UK government over financial and training supports extended to ex – SARS officers.
Osamor, who represents Edmonton , and who is the Chair of the All- Party Parliamentary Group on Nigeria , had stated that ex -SARS operatives were involved in no fewer than 82 cases of torture , ill-treatment and extra-judicial killings since January 2017.
Responding to Osamor ’ s letter, Duddridge in a letter on Thursday sighted by The PUNCH , said the British Government , through its Conflict , Stability and Security Fund trained ex -SARS operatives and supplied some equipment to them .
Duddridge ’ s letter partly read , “ Following my letter, officials have conducted a deep dive and reviewed our recent CSSF programmatic support to determine whether any of our programmes worked with FSARS .
“ Following the review and in the interest of full transparency, I want to share the following information with you ;
“ Firstly , through our CSSF-funded Nigeria Policing Programme , which ended in March 2020, FSARS officers participated in the training on amended Nigerian police guidance designed to improve human rights, training on public finance, and community policing workshops .
“ Secondly, through our support to the North East Public Safety and Security Programme ( part of which is delivered jointly with USAID ) , radio equipment was issued to Borno Police Command by our implementing partner ( Creative Associates ) to increase coordination between police units working to improve local security and to counter violent extremist organisations . Borno Police Command distributed two handheld radios and a vehicle- mounted radio to FSARS Unit .
“ These were returned and redistributed to other police units in Borno when FSARS was disbanded on 11 October . ”
The minister said the British Government was working with the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Ministry and other concerned authorities to support the Federal Government ’ s efforts to end police brutality and extrajudicial killings .
Duddridge also welcomed the Judicial Panels of Inquiry investigating human rights abuses by security agents in Nigeria including the shootings of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos State .
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