By Douglas Ogbankwa
It was the former President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) that posited many years ago, thus: Think not of what your country can do for you, but of what you can do for your country.
The Security Situation Room celebrates and felicitates with one its own, the cerebral and intellectually fecund Dr Solomon Ehigiator Arase CFR, NPM,Fdc.,Retired Inspector General of Police and former Chairman of the Police Service Commission.
The profoundly disciplined former IGP, who has been a trail-blazing officer and a gentleman, recently was the Chairman of the Police Service Commission.
We have drove a new course, in the complex milieu of the disciplinary spectrum of the Nigeria Police Force, which only the bold and fearless dares. It is a like a road less travelled . Dr. Solomon Arase, has in his kitty, many firsts in the leadership trajectory of the Nigeria Police Force .He established a workable oversight protocol, that ensured discipline and professionalism in the Nigeria Police Force.
The Security Situation Room is proud to be associated with you sir and we celebrate you as Edo’s Gift to the Nation and a National Treasure.
We remember with nostalgia, your ground-breaking innovations in the Nigeria Police Force as IGP, which included but are not limited to : the Creation of the Police Complaint Response Unit (PCRU) -an online, real-time Police of Police that tracks any Police activity anywhere in Nigeria in minutes, on a complaint, the establishment of the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) , which is the precursor to the tracking of phones and laptops, as part of Police investigation Activities in Nigeria, querying the investigation of commercial and contractual transactions, ensuring respect for fundamental human rights in Police Business,, the establishment of the Gender Unit, et. al.As Chairman of the Police Service Commission, you established the Complaint Monitoring Unit (CMU) ,which synergised with the Police Complaint Response Unit.
We wish you the very best of your birthday and success in your future endeavours.
–Douglas Ogbankwa Esq., Convener, Security Situation Room.
Below is a Brief Bio Data of the New Chairman of the Dr. SOLOMON ARASE CFR, FDC, NPM,
Today is the Birthday of the Chairman of the Police Service Commission Dr. Solomon E. Arase, CFR,fdc., NPM . We give the bio-data below to celebrate him.Let us talk about great men when they are alive . That is our philosophy.
Dr Solomon Arase, CFR, ,Fdc, NPM, was born on 21 June 1956. A 1980 Political Science graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, he holds an LL.B degree from the University of Benin and LL.M from Lagos State University, specialising in Corporate Management and Finance Law. He is also a holder of Master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the University of Ibadan, a Fellow of Nigeria Defence College, (fdc), and a recipient of the National Police Medal (NPM). He was also bestowed with prestigious and distinctive National Honours of the Commander of the Federal Republic, by President Muhammed Buhari , in 2022.
He enlisted into the Nigeria Police in 1981 and has served in various departments of the Force including Operations, Investigation, Administration and Intelligence. He was part of the Nigeria Police contingent to the United Nations Mission in Namibia and he is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the International Bar Association (IBA) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). He is the current National Legal Adviser, Alumni Association of the National Defence College – Nigeria (AANDEC)
A police officer with vast experience in intelligence, operation, investigation and administration, Retired IGP Arase was a member of the Failed Bank Inquiry set up by the Federal Government to investigate the massive fraud in the Nigerian Banking Sector in the early ‘90s as well as a member of the Special Homicide Investigation Team into the murder of Late Bola Ige, the then Minister of Justice. He was also a one-time Head the Lagos State Criminal Investigations Department where he worked closely with Lagos State’s Ministry of Justice and the Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (Criminal Justice Programme) to introduce landmark reforms and evaluation mechanisms.
He also served as the Secretary to the Presidential Committee on Nigeria Police Reform in 2006 and was a member of Nigeria Police Committee on Review of the Nigerian Constitution/Police Act. Retired IGP Arase is passionate about research and intellectualism. He co-edited ‘Policing Nigeria in the 21st Century’ and was the editor of ‘Monograph on Criminal Investigation’ and National Security: Intelligence and Community Partnership Approach. He was also on the Editorial Board of ‘Nigeria Police: The Journey so Far’. Retired IGP Arase’s Course Essay at the Nigeria Defence College won an Award for the Best Essay on Internal Security. He has contributed several scholarly essays to various local and international publications and has participated in several workshops and other professional engagements in the USA, UK, Canada, Spain, and under the auspices of the United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS.
He served as the Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to a record of three different Inspectors-General of Police between 2002 -2008 and was the Commissioner of Police, Akwa-Ibom State Police Command where he developed an anti-robbery and anti-kidnapping operational protocol that proved highly effective in addressing these set of high-level crimes in the State.
As an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) he served as the Head of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) where he undertook landmark reform and restructuring initiatives including the establishment of the Gender Unit and the successful sourcing of a three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) grant from the Ford Foundation to enhance the operations of the Gender Unit.
He also succeeded in establishing a state-of-the-art technical intelligence platform which has today restored the primacy of the Bureau as the most strategic intelligence agency in the internal security architecture of the country. Until his appointment as Inspector-General of Police, Retired IGP Arase was the Head of the Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (FCIID) of the Force. During his tenure, he worked in close collaboration with United Nations Office on Drug and Crime to establish a Case Tracking and Analysis Unit while also introducing and enforcing a Pre-Trial Detention Policy which ensured that cases of arbitrary detentions were discouraged in the Department.
He pioneered the enforcement of the Edo State Property Protection Law, which put a stop to the activities of land grabbers in Edo State. He set up a Security Trust Fund, which has contributed to providing logistics to Security formations in Edo State. He is a voracious reader, a charismatic leader, straight forward official, and an erudite writer, that is blessed with the gift of the garb.
Retired IGP Arase is a police reformist whose policing vision is premised on the engagement of intelligence-led policing strategies, community partnership, application of cutting-edge technology to policing functions at all levels, prevention of abuse of pre-trial detention powers and tailor-made capacity-building initiatives towards the enhancement of the intelligence and operational capacity of the Nigeria Police Force. He is married with children.
