By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Confederation of African Football (CAF ) Head of Safety and Security Department, Dr. Christian Emeruwa has described as very enlightening the workshop on the role of Police Escort Commanders during the forthcoming TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021.
He also praised the inputs of the Local Committee (LOC) Security Commission and officials from FIFA Security Mr. Kat Steinberg and Mr. Bonnie Mugabe who he said made the workshop successful.
Speaking further on the workshop which took place during the week, Emeruwa explained that the event was in furtherance to the preparations towards the successful delivery of Safety and Security for the next year’s AFCON in Cameroon.
“The Safety and Security Department of CAF deem it fit and necessary to organise a One-day Workshop for all the Police Escort Commanders that will be responsible in the coordination of all Police Escorts in each of the host city.
This workshop is necessitated so that a dialogue can be established between CAF, Safety and Security and various Police Commanders. Issues discussed are pertinently issues relating to the operations of the Escorts, the requirements by CAF, the expectations of CAF and the actual roles of the Escort Commanders and how their positions being strategic in the scheme of things can affect the overall delivery of Safety and Security of the AFCON.
“We are very much aware that Escorts will be required for teams and we have 24 teams. Escorts will be required for the officials, VVIP Movements and for one month the entire Cameroon will experience the movement of teams, VIPs, Officials from their hotels to training sites, from their hotels to airports, from their hotels to the stadiums and back. And we want to give the experience to the teams, a very seamless movements and an effective coordination of their movements while in Cameroon.
I think the deliberations we had in the workshop were very productive and we are convinced that Cameroon security authorities and the Police will do everything within their powers to deliver on this very important component of the Safety and Security Mix for the AFCON”.
