Police recruitment: Time to get it right

The recent pronouncement and approval by President Muhammadu Buhari on the Federal Government plans and approval for the recruitment of additional 10,000 policemen into the Nigeria Police Force, could be described as the right step in the right direction. Equally, it could be the long-awaited respite to policing activities in the country; this is considered so due to increase in crimes rate and acts of criminality as being witnessed in recent years coupled with constant security challenges facing the nation.

Population of the policemen and women as at 2014 is put at around 400,000 servicing over 170 million citizens. Research shows that a police officer is accountable to 425 Nigerians.

Undoubtedly, the figure proves that the citizens as well as their property are absolutely not secured. This could be said to have accounted for the high wave of crimes being recorded daily in the nooks and crannies of the country, as a result of which the police could do little to change the situation with their inadequate number which has rendered them ineffective.

However, in order to guide against what had happened in the past, the president, it is believed would do well to also look into sanitising the force. This is by ensuring that the Police Service Commission saddled with the responsibility of recruiting into the force, apart from following due processes, recruited very discipline and people of high integrity into the Nigeria Police Force. With that, the force it is believed would gradually regain its lost glory while the lost confidence would be restored by Nigerians.

It is a known fact to every Nigerian that the force is filled with officers of questionable characters, with little or no integrity and lack of commitment to the job; a situation that has over the years made it difficult to rid the nation of crimes.

Also, due to the high level of unemployment rate in the country, several unemployed youths resorted to joining the force in the absence of available better opportunities in the labour market. Consequently, lots of people enrol whenever opportunities come around and this ultimately affected their dedication to work and duties if and when eventually recruited.

Meanwhile, aside from recruitment into the force, other areas government must look at to improve the force is to ensure the officers are adequately remunerated, provided with ammunitions, equipment and other gadgets that would enhance their job. There have been several instances when the police were alerted of robbery incidents but would never show up because they did not have adequate arms and ammunition.

President Muhammadu Buhari, after giving the approval, subsequently warned that no candidate must be extorted in the course of seeking employment into the Nigeria Police Force while urging those in the committee to be alive to their responsibilities.

“You must ensure that the recruitment process is transparent. Those who will conduct the recruitment must be above board. It should not be heard that they receive gratification or extort money from those who want to enlist in the police”, he said.

Another area that posed challenges, not only to the force but to other security outfits in the country is the issue of extortion, which the president has rightly noted. It is a known fact that prospective candidates seeking enrolment into the force have been subjected to extortion in one way or the other in the past.

Those saddled with the responsibility always make millions of naira out of the innocent citizens. This is because they must buy scratch cards after paying into the specified account numbers at selected banks. Such money, it is gathered are unaccounted for. However, some applicants ended being duped while desperately looking for placement in the force.

It must be noted however that graduates who would have been unemployed for several years could do anything to get employed.

Another issue is that those who have retired from the services, died in the course of duty or dismissed from the service are not replaced, therefore leaving big vacuum unfilled for years.

Speaking, the Chairman, Police Service Commission, Mike Okiro, revealed that there had been a deficiency of about 19,500 policemen since 2010.

Beside the 10,000 recently approved for recruitment by President Buhari, Okiro said only 1,500 officers had been replaced of the 21,000 deficiency since 2010.

He said; “we thought about recruitment of officers over the years, more than 21,000 police officers retired, some dismissed, some died between 2010 and today but of this, only about 1,500 were replaced”.

So we discussed this with Mr. President; of course, you are aware that a few days ago, Mr. President said the police is going to recruit 10,000.

“We discussed with him on modalities and how to ensure that the 10,000 people are recruited to maintain security”.

On how soon that recruitment would start, he said certain procedures and guidelines must first be put in place.

Speaking on the meeting with the President, he said “We, Permanent Secretary of Police Affairs, Chairman of Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police with their members and management staff, briefed the president on the needs and challenges, success recorded and things to be done to ensure that security is maintained”.

Asked if there is any specific directive from the president, he said “Of course, he has given us assurance that the police will be encouraged, will be funded, and will be equipped within the provisions of the budget to make sure Nigerians are provided with adequate security”.

Reacting to the development, Dr. Joseph Fayeye of the University of Ilorin Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, who described the President's approval as the right step in the right direction, said it is evidently clear that police population is very low compared to the citizens' population.

Fayeye added that the nation's population is about 170 million while the police officers, who are supposed to provide security for lives and property of the people are not up to its one tenth.

Therefore, he commended the president's move due to add to the security outfit number, stating that government's responsibility is not only to ensure good governance but to also see to the security of both lives and property of the citizenry.

He said further that the police has the widest mandate of operation, though it is being supported by other security outfits such State Security Services (SSS), the military and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

“The police population is low. Nigeria has about 170 million population and we don't have up to one tenth of that population as our police strength. Police has the widest mandate in terms of operation. They participated in inspection, arrest, prosecution, road safety, vehicular inspection and other intelligent services.

“When you now look at their span of operation, it is so wide that we need to have enough men to man materials that are available”, he said.

It is believed that aside from recruiting additional personnel into the force, the Federal Government must ensure that everything required to enhance their job is provided for them, ranging from equipment, such as ammunitions and all gadgets required should be made available to them.

Also, with the number of police to the country's population, it is expected that recruitment exercise would be conducted now and then to ensure that the force's number is greatly increased from its present state. But aside recruiting, it is expected that normal and open processes would be followed. This would ensure that right people are employed into the force, to achieve putting the right peg in the right hole target.

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