The Chairman Police Service Commission (PSC) Mike Okiro has clarified that the Commission is now in charge of the recruitment of about six thousand constables into the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Okiro in an interview with Daily Trust on Thursday said, “there is no controversy as such; the issue of recruitment, the constitution demands that the PSC conducts, recruitment, appointments and discipline all officers of the NPF apart from the Inspector General of Police (IGP).”
He said recruitment is entirely the responsibility of the commission, adding that, “We had series of meetings in my office with DIG training and other officers to work out the modalities for this recruitment, just as we did in 2016.”
On February 19th 2018, Daily Trust reported that the (PSC) wrote a letter to the IGP to withdraw a recent recruitment advertisement into the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).
A top source had revealed that the Commission wrote the IGP after the advert was published in Newspapers and circulated across the country.
The source raised concerns over the legality of the recruitment process, hinting that the entire process could be challenged in court because recruitment into the Police Force is the responsibility of the Commission.
Today, Okiro said a committee was setup between the Police Service Commission and the Force Headquarters, to work on modalities for recruitment of the six thousand constables.
He said there was an omission on the part of the police headquarters which has been corrected.
He said, “at a time we delegated authority to the police to recruit some constables in conjunction with the PSC, but now the commission is in the driving seat of the new recruitment.”
He added that when it comes to screening and other physical standards required, the police would come in.
Asked about complains received from some applicants whose names were published in newspapers after the screening but were denied entry at training institutions, Okiro said, “no body whose name was published in newspapers can be turned back from the training schools.”
On the problem of insecurity in the country and corruption in the police, he said, “it’s not the training of the police that is the problem but the orientation of society, in other climes police are respected.”
“In Nigeria people demean the police man, people don’t obey laws here, its orientation, not that policeman is corrupt, but the society, the police officers are being corrupted by the public.
He said bribery and corruption in the police is bad, but it is encouraged by the public.
