Expert Calls For Probe Of Police Recruitment Saga

A human capital development expert, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, has urged President Bola Tinubu to investigate the allegations made by the inspector-general of police (IGP), Mr Kayode Egbetokun, regarding the last police recruitment exercise in the country.

Ibrahim made the call while reacting to the police recruitment saga, which was exposed by the police authorities last weekend.

He noted with serious concern how the country‘s public service has been ‚bastardìsed‘ not only in recruitment but also in training, promotion, and discipline.

He wondered why a critical sector of security like the police could be enmeshed in a recruitment crisis after many years of abandonment of the police recruitment exercise.

„It is recalled that since 2018, the federal government‘s attempt to recruit 10,000 police personnel to beef up the nation‘s security has been grounded to a halt as the police hierarchy under the IGP and Police Service Commission [PSC] were at loggerheads, leading to litigation on who has the power to recruit police personnel of the lower cadres between IGP and Police Service Commission [PSC].

„That the last recruitment exercise officially released by the PSC was rejected by the Police Authorities must be a matter of serious concern to all patriotic Nigerians,“ he said.

Ibrahim observed that the bane of the nation‘s public service since the return to democracy in 1999 had been corruption, favouritism, a lack of due process in recruitment, and undeserved interference in the recruitment, promotion, and discipline processes by top government functionaries.

He maintained that no recruitment would meet the required standard where such inadequacies featured.

He commended the Nigerian Army, Navy, and Air Force for „ maintaining a high standard in their recruitment and training processes.“