Germany Calls Nigerian Govt to train police how to handle unarmed protesters

On Tuesday, November 23, 2021, the German government called on the federal government to release at least 30,000 Nigerian police for special training in Germany on how to handle protests among Nigerians without using weapons.

A high-level German delegation, which visited the Chairman of the Police Services Commission, Musiliu Smith, said it was ready to train new Nigerian police recruits on best practices in handling protests in the country. Street.

The team, led by retired German Federal Police Inspector General Matthias Seeger, had previously visited the force’s headquarters where they interacted with Inspector General of Police Usman Baba.

Seeger said: “I think the best thing to start is if you want to build a house, you start with the basement. You focus on very few things, maybe two or three.

All the demonstrations that we have had in Europe, there are very few unique situations where the police use their guns; 99.9%, no weapons.

Thus, we offer you to train yourself in good practices. You have a great chance when you train 30,000 young women and men to be police officers, you take the best.
“It’s a great chance for you now when you train young people. This is the future of the Nigerian police, so you train them well from the first moment.

In response, Smith said that Nigerian protesters are generally armed and law enforcement officers must defend themselves against assaults by protesters.
He said, “Let me draw your attention to a problem. When we have protests or demonstrations in this country, it would not be fair to compare them to those in Europe and I have my reasons for that.

“Over the past 5, 10 years, which men have had to face in such situations, I think they have to be well prepared if they value their own lives.
“They have to be well armed, well prepared so that if they try all other means to disperse them or make arrests, they can make certain decisions or sometimes people get hurt.

“But on a few occasions, they are forced to use weapons not only to save their lives. So I don’t think they handle demos very well, there is a lot of room for improvement.