ACP Kolawole, Nigeria Police Spokesperson
CHIKA OTUCHIKERE brings to our teeming readers the country’s first ever female Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, assistant commissioner of police, ACP Olabisi Kolawole.
Throughout the unveiling of the country’s first female spokesman of the the Nigeria Police Force Tuesday, by her immediate predecessor, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu, ACP Olabisi Kolawole remained calm and calculated, exuding unusual candor.
Beautiful and radiant for a police officer, Kolawole who was sandwiched between Ojukwu and the deputy force spokesman, Abayomi Shogunle during the media event, did not disguise her excitement at the new appointment and the prospects of challenges she would have to surmount dealing with ever nosy journalists.
Her maiden address to journalists during the unveiling gave an insight into the stuff the new force media helmsman is made of. While not shrieking from her responsibility, Kolawole made it clear that the police on its own would not achieve the goal of a society devoid of crime. The collaboration and support of the citizens, especially the media in her view is paramount to achieving that goal.
“I am indeed delighted not just at the prospect of being the first female police officer to mount this exalted position that has enjoyed the dominion of the male counterpart, but for the enormous belief the IGP and his management team has in my ability to perform the daunting task of public relations at this point of our history.
“Police is the mirror of the society. A wrong society breeds a wrong police and a wrong police is
the woe of the nation. It is therefore the responsibility of all to sensitise the nation on the benefits of a prudent, proactive and friendly police organisation. This is where the primary function of the press comes in, that is, setting the agenda for improved policing.
“A police organisation that does not enjoy the patronage of the press cannot perform its constitutional obligation of maintaining security of life and property. This is because whatever information that propagates the inability of the police, inadvertently destroys the economy and development of nation as no nation can progress without the police. It is for this reason that I seek the utmost understanding of the Nigerian press,” Kolawole said.
Shogunle who announced the IGP’s appointment of the first female spokesman in a statement, said the appointment is geared towards harnessing the enormous potentials among Nigerian female police officers.
ACP Olabisi Kolawole is a graduate of Police Academy. She studied Law at Ogun State University and graduated with Bachelor of Law degree (LL.B) in 2000. She graduated from the Nigeria Law School where she obtained a (BL) degree and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2002. She attended University of Leicester, United Kingdom where she obtained a Masters degree in Police Leadership and Management (PLM).
She has experience both locally and internationally. She has held several positions including legal adviser, administration officer, intelligence officer and Force Gender Adviser among others. At the international level, she served in several United Nations Missions and is a member of the pool of investigators assisting the office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague in the investigations of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence as international crimes.
Kolawole is a member of a number of organisations including the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA),International Association of Women Police (IAWP), International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), United Nations Women Police Network. Until her appointment as the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Kolawole was the Deputy Director of the Directorate of Peacekeeping and the Police Force Gender Adviser.
She is happily married with children and her hobbies include reading, travelling, Table Tennis.
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