PSC Suspends Police Recruitment After IGP Kicked Against Employment Process

Police Service Commission (PSC) has suspended the 2022 Police recruitment exercise earlier published to enable eligible Nigerians to join the force.

The Commission’s decision to halt the process came after the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) disapproved of the recruitment exercise published as an advertisement in a national daily a few weeks ago.

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The NPF had asked Nigerians to disregard the information, stating that the website for registration enlisted by the PSC was not associated with the Force.

Consequently, the PSC acknowledged the Police Force’s response to the development and asked that Nigerians exercise patience while it resolved issues with the Force.

“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,” a statement by the PSC, signed by its Spokesperson Ikechukwu Ani read.

But the Force Spokesperson, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who appeared on Channels Television Programme, Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, noted that the police had no issue with the PSC on the recruitment process while giving more insight for releasing a statement.

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He noted that there was a need to publicly inform Nigerians who were already distressed by the information to be at rest because the portal listed by the PSC was not functional and it was not “going to have any effect at the end of the day”.

Aside from that, Adejobi said the Police were not ready to recruit or train more officers as it was incapacitated to shoulder such responsibility at the moment.

“In as much as we are not instituting any investigation to that, we felt that Nigerians should know that we are not ready for the 2022 recruitment exercise for now. It is a process.

“We just recruited 2021, and they resumed training just two weeks ago, and we are talking of 10,000 people. Where would you have the capacity to train them? Our training schools are occupied for now and we are not ready for that,” he said.

He, however, hinted at the possibility to kick off the 2022 recruitment exercise, should the PSC yield to the conditions that made the 2020 and 2021 exercises hitch-free.

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“Even if the commission wanted to commence the recruitment exercise, he would have consulted the IGP (Inspector-General of Police Usman Alkali-Baba), we need to have a committee. We have been having that and in the last two years, we haven’t had any issues. 2020 recruitment exercise was seamless.

“Anybody can recruit. PSC is our employer including myself. It is only the IGP that is not employed by the commission.

“So, when we are ready, we are going to meet, the service commission will have a representative, the Nigeria Police Force and a Federal character, that is all. So, we probably have like three to four parties involved in recruitment. So, all of us will meet and facilitate things, then we will issue another statement.”

The public loggerhead between both parties started in 2019 when a move by the former IGP, Muhammed Adamu to recruit 10,000 officers, was countered by the PSC in court.

While the Federal High Court upheld the IGP’s powers to recruit, the appeal court, later on, set aside the judgement of the former, giving a mandate to the PSC to manage the recruitment exercise as contained in the constitution.

According to the 1999 Constitution, Part 1 of the Third Schedule states that: “The Commission shall have power to (a) Appoint persons to offices (other than office of the Inspector-General of Police) in the Nigeria Police Force”.

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While Section 18(1) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020, assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, states that: “The responsibility for the recruitment of recruit constables into the Nigeria Police Force and recruit cadets into the Nigeria Police Academy shall be the duty of the Inspector-General of Police.”

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