A delegation of 14 students from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Nigeria, on August 11, visited Rwanda National Police (RNP) to learn on how security has contributed in the development of agriculture in Rwanda.
Led by the acting director general of the institute, Jonathan Mela Juma, the students, who are part of the 39th intake of the senior executive course, were received by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Emmanuel K. Gasana.
The students include policymakers, senior military and police officers, researchers and other government officials, who are being prepared for higher leadership responsibilities.
Mela said that they came to Rwanda to study how the country has progressed in areas of science, technology, and innovation, and how it is impacting on agriculture and the processing of agricultural products into finished goods.
“We visited Rwanda Police because for agriculture to be successful, you need a secure environment. Farmers need a secure environment to go to their farm and to be able to bring their harvests to a secure market,” Mela said.
“The environment has to be safe and secure for them, the same thing with those who undertake research; if there is insecurity, research can’t go on. Same thing with agro-processors, they need a secure and protected environment to be able to do their business. So we have come to listen how police has successfully ensured peace and safety in Rwanda in order for farmers and agro-processors to go about their business without any security problem.”
IGP Gasana, while briefing the students, said that after the dooms day of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and the liberation struggle, the leadership picked up from the shocks to survival, stability and towards success in all aspects, and enabling conducive environment for business growth including agriculture.
“Rwandans are driven by ambitions, uniqueness, sense of urgency and to have dignified life; this is a strategic guidance by the President, that binds us together as security organs and other institutions as well as the general public to translate the vision into our mission,” IGP Gasana said.
He said that security organs are part of Vision 2020, EDPRS2, Seven-year government programme, sector strategies and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“The focus is all about human security; we give it much attention to alleviate poverty, but at the same time cementing the ideal of community policing,” he said.
The students were also briefed on various areas where the force facilitates agriculture including fighting smuggling, investigating embezzlement and corruption in the agricultural sector, its contribution to one cow per poor family; fighting armyworm; community work to prevent soil erosion and construction of terraces.
Other areas include awareness on environmental protection, establishment of an environmental protection unit as well as Gishari Integrated Polytechnic, which equips both police officers and the public with vocational skills in agriculture and irrigation in particular.
RNP also planted about 400 hectares of trees in different parts of the country. This is part of the national afforestation programme to conserve the ecosystem, which is partly a source of rainfall.
The Express News Rwanda
