UNODC, INL and the NPF Collaborate to Strengthen the Use of Forensic Evidence in Nigeria
In the past two weeks, the UNODC Country Office in Nigeria has handed over two newly renovated evidence storage facilities to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) Commands in Borno and Gombe states. This initiative made possible through the generous financial support of the United States Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), is intended to bolster the ability of the NPF to collect and preserve evidence for use in court proceedings. These new facilities represent a significant step forward in revolutionizing the way criminal evidence is handled by police investigators, providing a structured, secure, and efficient system for its storage and retrieval. The evidence custodians assigned to these facilities have undergone extensive training by UNODC experts on proper collection, preservation, and storage techniques to ensure the admissibility of evidence in court, and they will be receiving further mentoring support over the next few months to ensure that these facilities resume their operations on the right footing.