By Goodluck Ikiebe
Family and friends of the new Chairman of Nigeria Police Service Commission were elated by the heart warming news of the swearing in of Solomon Ehigiator Arase as the new Chairman of the Police Service Commission.
They expressed confidence that the very disciplined former IGP, who was a trail blazing officer and a gentleman, will drive a new course to reposition the disciplinary spectrum of the Nigeria Police Force, which only the bold and fearless dares.
“Dr. Solomon Arase , has in his kitty , many firsts in the leadership trajectory of the Nigeria Police Force .We also believe that he will establish a workable oversight protocol , that will ensure discipline and professionalism in the Nigeria Police Force”, they reasoned.
Below is a Brief Bio Data of the New Chairman of Dr. SOLOMON ARASE CFR ,FDC, NPM.
The Newly sworn in Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Solomon E. Arase, was born on 21 June, 1956. A 1980 Political Science graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, he holds an LL.B degree from University of Benin and LL.M from Lagos State University, specialising in Corporate Management and Finance Law.
Arase is also a holder of Master’s degree in Strategic Studies from University of Ibadan, Fellow of Nigeria Defence College, (fdc), and recipient of the National Police Medal (NPM).
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).
Arase is the current National Legal Adviser, Alumni Association of the National Defence College – Nigeria (AANDEC)
Dr Solomon Arase is 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 member of the Special Homicide Investigation Team into the murder of Late Bola Ige, the then Minister of Justice. He was also a onetime 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 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 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 protocols 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 in providing logistics to Security formations in Edo State .He is a voracious reader , a charismatic leader , straight forward official , an erudite writer, that is blessed with the gift of the garb.
Dr 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.
Dr Solomon Arase is married with children.
