Two hundred and fifteen police officers from the ranks of Deputy Superintendent to Chief Superintendent in Zone 9 are participating in a one-week “Incident Commanders’ Management Course” in Umuahia.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the list of participants included 50 officers from each of the four states in the zone, namely Abia, Anambra, Imo and Enugu.

Twenty-five other participants were drawn the National Emergency Management Agency, Federal Road Safety Commission, Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Nigerian Army, all drawn from the states in the zone.

Also, fifteen participants came from Zone 9 headquarters, Umuahia.

Declaring the training opened on Monday, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris said that the exercise was necessary to equip participants to respond positively to disasters and emergency situations.

The IG, who was represented by the AIG Zone 9, Mr Hosea Karma, said that during emergencies “only people who are trained to manage emergency situations should be allowed to help victims of incidents.”

Idris said that it was wrong for people without the requisite training to cluster at the scene of an incident.

He said that incidents were natural with human existence and could occur in the sea, air, road as well as home, hence the need to train officers to be proactive on emergency management.

According to him, whenever it occurred, the officers at the scene should be the first callers expected to man such incidents.

“I am particularly glad that Fire Service and Road Safety are here with us because whenever accidents occur on the highway, they are the first callers along with the Police.

“Whenever there is fire, the Police will be there clearing the place and making sure that unauthorised persons do not take advantage of the victims of the incident.

“The important thing is that the Police and other security agencies must work as a team and synergy must be our watch word.

“Without synergy we cannot achieve anything,” Idris stated.

He said that the training would help to analyse what role each agency was expected to play and how to plan better for action in handling incidents.

The Police boss charged the participants to take advantage of the training and be equipped to enhance their performances during emergencies.

NAN reports that the training was organised by the Nigeria Police in conjunction with the British High Commission. (NAN)