Italy Offers to Train 5,000 Nigerian Police Officers in Counterterrorism, Intelligence Operations
Italy has offered to provide specialised training for up to 5,000 Nigerian police officers as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s response to terrorism, kidnapping and other security threats.
The offer followed security cooperation discussions between the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, and Italian authorities during his working visit to Italy.
The proposed programme will focus on counter-insurgency, intelligence-led operations and tackling threats such as terrorism, kidnapping and arms trafficking, particularly in rural and forested communities.
The training is expected to cover tactical operations, cybercrime, digital forensics, explosives detection, financial investigations, asset tracing and anti-extortion techniques.
It will also include leadership development courses for senior police officers and junior commanders.
As part of efforts to formalise the cooperation, Disu proposed a Memorandum of Understanding covering training, technology transfer and operational procedures.
He also invited an assessment team from Italy’s Carabinieri to visit Abuja and identify Nigeria’s priority security needs.
The proposed partnership is expected to strengthen professional capacity and deepen security cooperation between Nigeria and Italy.
