By Uche Amunike
The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Usman Baba has disagreed with the Police Service Commission, PSC, over police recruitment of constables into the Force.
An advertisement notice was placed for the Year 2022 in the PSC portal for the recruitment of Police Constables in a newspaper. In response to that development, however, the Nigerian Police Force called on Nigerians to ignore the advertisement.
The Force Image Maker, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, through a statement released by him, noted that the advertisement notice from the PSC was not in connection with the Nigerian Police Force and that it went against the system with which the Police recruitment process was handled.
His statement partly read: ‘The Nigeria Police Force wishes to inform well-meaning members of the public that it has not commenced the 2022 police constables recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force contrary to a publication on Page 21 of Daily Sun Newspaper of Thursday August 11, 2022 by the Police Service Commission.
‘The police similarly state unequivocally that the advert has no connection with the Nigeria Police Force nor is it in tandem with the police recruitment process, and should be disregarded in all its entirety. The website to which the publication refers intending candidates is not associated with the Nigeria Police Force.’
‘The Nigeria Police Force hereby calls on all stakeholders and intending applicants to discountenance the information in both the newspaper and on the portal as the website is not the official portal for police constables recruitment.’
Meanwhile, the staff members of the PSC have made threats of embarking in an indefinite strike if the commission’s chairman, Musiliu Smith and the IGP fail to put heads together and resolve the lingering issue of Police recruitment as well as other underlying problems.
This was disclosed by the Chairman, Joint Service Union, PSC Chapter, Mr Adoyi Adoyi during an interview with newsmen as he tried to clarify between the Nigerian Police Force and the Commission, which body was responsible for Police recruitment.
He stated: ‘We now have a ground to continue with our agitation, and this time around we are embarking on an indefinite strike. We are protesting even to the Presidency, and we will let everyone know that we cannot be kept redundant.’
‘No law puts the commission under the Ministry of Police Affairs. But they feel that the commission should be under the ministry, and the chairman has fallen for that.’
‘We have given the commission and the Police Force 24 hours to resolve the issue, if not; we will proceed with our action.’
He added that they held a retreat, but unfortunately, the outcome was never deliberated upon nor implemented by the PSC Chairman.
In the meantime, however, the Force Public Relations Officer, Adejobi maintained, Tuesday, during an interview on Channels TV, that there were no issues between the Police Force and the PSC. He assured that the Police Force needed to make things clear for the sake of potential intakes that might get confused.
His words: ‘We were shocked about the publication for recruitment on a national daily. Even some principal officers of the PSC were shocked.’
‘In as much as we are not instituting any investigation into that, we want to assure Nigerians that we are not ready for the 2022 recruitment exercise yet. We had just recruited the 2021 batch who resumed training about two weeks ago, and we are talking about recruiting 10,000 people. We cannot train them because our training school is currently occupied, so we are not ready for that now.’
The PSC Head of Press and Public Relations, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, has however assured that all issues concerning Police Recruitment will be resolved between the NPF and the PSC, for national interest.
His statement read: ‘Police Service Commission notes the publication of the Nigeria Police Force concerning the 2022 constable recruitment exercise.’
‘The commission wishes to state that all contending issues around the exercise will be resolved between the two parties in the interest of the nation.’
‘All interested applicants and other Nigerians desirous of a career in the Nigeria Police Force should exercise patience while these issues are being resolved. The commission will continue to strive to give Nigerians a Police Force they will be proud of.’
