Letters

Police recruitment: Need to overhaul the system

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6 years ago

THE Nigeria police force is regarded among the most important legacies of British Colonia rule but nowadays the force is near to collapse due to system rot. The police organization in Nigeria is systemically in the sick bed and it needs urgent revolutionary surgical operation for reform.

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The reform is such that encompasses all round structure and activities of the force organization particularly recruitment into the force. The federal government had recently announced its preparation for recruitment exercise into the Nigeria Police Force in order to address the acute personnel shortage in the force. This is a bold step toward meeting up with the United Nations requirements which is one police man to 400 people.

The Nigerian population in this 21st century is burgeoning exponentially approximately 200 million people and police workforce of about 370,000 officers and men. There is no doubt that Nigeria is grossly under policed, is serious facing security challenges such as armed robbers, assassinations, kidnapping: Boko Haram insurgency and others.

The Federal Government recently announced the increment of salary package for the Nigeria police force, in order to motivate the primacy of the police in Nigeria’s internal security framework. By doing this, many applicants would be attracted to the job, because in many of the advanced countries, police jobs are among the most sought-after. Therefore with is motivation the policemen in this country they will give their best and also issue of promotion should be addressed.

In the 60’s it has been the tradition that no police personnel could be picked without liaising with traditional institutions so as to avoid picking wrong peoples in the force.

Therefore, if the Federal Government wants to succeed in the security challenges affecting this country, involving the traditional institutions in the recruitment exercise of police personnel because they know the situation of security in their domain. A traditional institution knows each and every home and character of his peoples and can easily identify a criminal in their community. Now in the present day Nigeria the force harbors a number of personnel with criminal records and questionable character.

My advice to the Federal Government, ministry of interior police service commission within the system is the traditional institutions to be included in the police recruitment process it will improve the exercise for better new recruit.