Ag. IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu was born on 17th September, 1961 in Lafia, Nasarawa State where he also had his early education. He later proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and graduated with a B.Sc (Hons) degree in Geography in 1983. He followed up this with a Master’s degree in International Criminal Justice Systems in 2010 at the University of Portsmouth, England. In 2018, Ag. IGP Adamu was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in International Relations by Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu in recognition of his international professional exposure.
Ag. IGP Adamu’s sojourn in the Nigeria Police commenced in 1986 when he joined the Force as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police and was trained at the Police College, Ikeja. In his early service years, he worked as the Divisional Crime Officer and Administrative Officer at the Mgbidi Police Station, Mgbidi, Imo State; O/C General Investigation, Nigeria Police Zone 6 Headquarters, Calabar and as a detective at the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos where he worked with teams to resolve several major crimes and earned a reputation as a super detective.
Between 2007 – 2010, Ag. IGP Adamu served as the Director, Peacekeeping and Training, Force Headquarters, Abuja and was later deployed as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in-charge of Administration in Ekiti State Command. Between 2012 -2013, he served as the Deputy Commissioner of Police and Head of the State Criminal Investigation Department in Kaduna State Police Command. He was later deployed as the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Police Command between 2013 – 2015 and the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 5 Police Headquarters, Benin-City between 2016-17.
An officer widely defined in Nigeria Police circle as an epitome of global policing and one with experience in policing in a diverse environment, between 1997 – 2002, he was seconded from the Nigeria Police to the INTERPOL General Secretariat, Lyon, France as a ‘Specialised Officer’ on Economic and Financial Crimes in the Economic and Financial Crimes Sub-Directorate. In due appreciation of his depth of professional knowledge and exceptional leadership, he was soon elevated to the position of Assistant Director in-charge of the African Sub-Directorate at the INTERPOL General Secretariat. In 2005, he was again elevated to the position of Director, National Central Bureau and 1-24/7 Global Communication System and Development within the hierarchy of the INTERPOL Secretariat, Lyon, France. He holds the record as the first ever African to be made a Director in the over 82 years history of INTERPOL.
As an established, dependable and well-respected asset within the global policing network. Ag. IGP Adamu was between 2010 and 2012 elected as an Executive Member of INTERPOL at its General Assembly Session in Singapore, and between 2012 and 2014, he was elected as the INTERPOL’s Vice President responsible for Africa during the Organisation’s meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Aside placing Nigeria Police on the international plane, Ag. IGP Adamu has in his rich national and international policing career led several important criminal investigations for Nigeria in the UK, USA, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Netherlands and several West African countries. He has also been active in providing leadership and developing policies and strategies within the INTERPOL Organisation, while drawing on his broad network within the organization to strengthen the local INTERPOL Office domiciled in the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters.
Ag. IGP Adamu has attended several strategic professional leadership and operational courses both locally and internationally. These include the Advanced Detective Course at the Police Staff College, Jos; Financial Crimes Course at the International Training Institute of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington DC; Criminal Analysis Course at the Ecole National Seperieure de la Police (ESPN), Saint Cyr Au Mont dór, Lyon, France; Senior Management Development and Planning Course, and the Staff Assessment Course both at the INTERPOL Headquarters in Lyon, France. He has also attended the ECOWAS Strategic Level training on Security Sector reform in West Africa as well as the Leadership and Strategic Management Workshop for Senior Corporate and Public Sector Executives at the Centre of Management Development, Lagos. Ag. IGP Adamu is a proud Alumnus and Member of the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Jos, Plateau State where he graduated as a member of the Senior Executive Course 38 between 2016 and 2017.
A bi-linguist, Ag. IGP Adamu speaks French and English languages fluently. He was until his appointment as the 20th indigenous Inspector General of Police, a Directing Staff at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru-Jos. He is a strategic leader with critical reasoning ability who brings to the Force as Ag. IGP a personality with record of courage, calmness, incorruptibility, discipline, clear vision, deep knowledge of policing dynamics in Nigeria and broad international professional exposure all of which he plans to harness to restore police primacy in Nigeria. He is married and blessed with children
