Usman Alkali, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), has given N26 million to the families of the seven police personnel who died while on duty in Delta State.
This was revealed in a statement released Friday by the state's police spokeswoman, Bright Edafe.
He said that on Thursday at the state police headquarters in Asaba, Muhammed Ali, the state's commissioner of police, handed the families the checks on behalf of the IGP.
The gesture was a part of the insurance welfare programme of the IGP, according to Edafe, a deputy superintendent of police.
The money "would in no small way, function as a boost to the families and also to let them know that though their loved ones are no longer with us, the force did not forget their efforts," Ali said in praising the IGP for the action.
The family thanked the IGP for the kindness and promised to spend the funds "judiciously."
Gunmen who are allegedly involved in the Biafra agitation in the South-east and South-south have primarily targeted police officers and officials of other security agencies in deadly attacks in those two regions.
The Indigenous People of Biafra, a group leading the agitation for the creation of an independent state of Biafra from the South-east and some parts of the South-South, has been accused of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the two regions. But the group has repeatedly denied involvement in the attacks.
Edafe said the police also used the occasion to decorate some newly promoted officers in the state.
The promoted officers include the Divisional Police Officer of Asaba Central Police Station, Temitope Fasugba, the officer in charge of the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Emmanuel Yakubu, and the Divisional Police Officer of Abbi Central Police Station, Mu’azu Mohammed.
They were all promoted to the rank of assistant commissioners of police.
Also promoted was the Financial Officer of the police in the state, Ogungbagbe Opeyemi, the Commander of the Crack Squad Unit of the police in the state, John Agaga, and four unnamed others – all promoted to the rank of chief superintendents of police.
Ali, the police commissioner in the state, advised the promoted officers to put more effort into carrying out their responsibilities.
Fasugba, who spoke on behalf of the promoted officers, promised never to disappoint the IGP in discharging their duties.