The Nigerian Police Force spent over N600 million for the procurement and maintenance of foreign dogs in the country.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase, disclosed this at the commissioning of the ultra-modern mounted troop/veterinary complex and state of the art dog breeding centre, yesterday in Abuja.
According to him, the construction of the Dog Breeding Centre was to aid the Nigeria Police acquire capacity to locally breed police dogs and be self-reliant in dog breeding as well as maintenance in a cost effective manner.
Arase lamented that huge funds were being expended on importation of dogs from foreign countries, even though some of these dogs rarely adapt to Nigeria’s policing climes, saying, “This is certainly not sustainable especially in the face of dwindling resources.”
Meanwhile, he disclosed that in support of government policy on Made-In-Nigeria Goods, the Nigeria police has adopted Binggo Dog food for their dogs to help the naira and general economy.
Arase said the construction of the Dog Breeding Centre was to aid the Nigeria Police acquire capacity to locally breed police dogs and be self-reliant in dog breeding as well as maintenance in a cost effective manner.“The initiative is also designed to, in the long-term, support the operations dog requirement of sister law enforcement organisations, armed forces as well as breeding of friendly puppies for the civilian population on commercial basis. This is with the intention of evolving the centre into a self-sustaining dog breeding centre as practiced in other climes.
“The breeding centre being commissioned today has the capacity to conveniently breed and supply police dogs to the entire West African sub-region and it is projected that at optimal breeding capacity, it can produce well above 200 dogs per year. “With this commissioning, procurement of dogs for policing activities from foreign countries would now become a thing of the past.
