Tinubu Approves Yearly Recruitment Into Police
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved yearly recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Inspector General of Police (IGP), IGP Kayode Egbetokun, has disclosed.
This, according to him, is to improve and cushion the visible manpower shortage in the force.
Meanwhile, retired Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mike Okiro, has stated that the much talked about decentralisation of the police would not achieve its desired objective as the inherent factors that led to its failure in the past have not been addressed.
Egbetokun reiterated the need to double the manpower strength of the Police Force in the country.
Addressing officers and men of the Kwara State Police Command in Ilorin during a one-day official visit, yesterday, Egbetokun lamented that one policeman does the job of two policemen currently, noting that the increase in the manpower would be gradual.
He stated that Tinubu has given approval for yearly recruitment into the force.
He stated: “We’re paying attention to manpower. I know there’s a shortage of manpower in the command. I know the stress that I had gone through while serving as CP in making sure that the job is done. I know one policeman does the job of two policemen.
“A policeman would close from night duty and resume for morning duty. And as he’s closing from morning duty, he’s resuming night duty. And when he dozes off in public, his photograph is taken and posted to ridicule him. I’m aware of all these.
“We’re making efforts to increase your strength. The President had recently given approval for yearly recruitment in police. That’s the way forward. We need to double the strength of the police in the country. We cannot do it overnight, but gradually. And gradually we’ll get there. We will also emphasise training to achieve a professionally competent police force.
“We’re also looking into welfare in the increase in salary and other areas to improve the lives of officers, just as equipping the Police Force is a priority. We promise to take care of the insurance plan too.”
Okiro spoke with journalists on the sideline of the 2023 Convention of the Old Seminarians Association of Nigeria (OSAN), hosted by the Clerk to the Senate, Mr. Chinedu Akubueze, in Abuja, yesterday.
The former IGP explained that at the inception of the Nigeria Police, authorities of the sub-regional institutions had their own police separate from the ones being controlled by the central government.
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According to him, the state police idea could not work due to paucity of funds at both the state and local council levels.
He wondered how the states and local councils that could not effectively pay the salaries of their workers would be able to fund their own police.
Okiro, however, said the only way state police could work was for Nigeria to adopt the Canadian model.
The Canadian model, according to him, would involve the states recruiting the police personnel who would be funded by the Federal Government.
He said: “The only way we can have state police in Nigeria is to adopt the Canadian model, where every region has its own police employed by the region and paid by the federal government.
“For example, in Nigeria, every governor would employ his/her own police, equip them while they would be paid by the Federal Government.
“Before the advent of what we have now, we had ‘dandoka’; we had police in the West; we also had police in the East.
“Local governments had their police, but because of the behaviour of the local police officers, during the time of former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon in 1971 or thereabout, he turned it to the Nigeria Police Force.
“I am opposed to the state police because of the benefit of hindsight; how they behaved in those days, unless you want to throw away the benefits of history.”