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Shun extortion, corruption tendencies, IGP tasks officers in Kano

Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun has tasked officers and men of the Nigerian Police to shun extortion and other corrupt acts in order to enhance their public image in the fight for a crime-free society.

This is just as he disclosed that promotion in the police force will henceforth be based only on merit while announcing that there will no more be special promotions.

He stated this on Friday while delivering at a special reception at the Kano Police Command where he was on inspection tour of the Command among others.

According to him, “If you want prayers you will get enough prayers in this job. And if you want the opposite of prayers you are going to get it too. So be mindful of that fact.

“I used to tell people that God loves the police and God is always looking for a policeman to bless. Some of you would have sent away angels that God is sending to you to bless you with your wickedness.”

He added; “The moment you are engaging in corruption you are telling God that don’t worry about me I can bless myself, and God will not bother about you.

“I used to tell my officers that when you are extorting, the police job is very good, is the best job in the world. Is a job that when you do it very well you get prayers. It is also a job that you will do and you will get the opposite of prayers. So it is you the policeman that will determine what you want.

“But if you address your job with the fear of God, God will single you out for blessing. If you want your personal blessing then you must will it for yourself. So if you want your personal blessing which you wish for yourself or the one from God. I will rather choose the blessing that will come from God”.

While speaking on some of the packages he has for the Police in Nigeria, he stated that he is going to reshuffle the Central Investigation Department (CID) of the force at the national level appointing only those who are qualified.

He stated that the same will also be replicated in the state commands.

“We are going to commit serious effort to training. There will be specialist training for specialized duties.

“The force CID is going to be reorganised such that only qualified and competent officers will function in the force CID. This will be replicated in the state commands.

“Henceforth only officers who can inspire public confidence will be given sensitive duty posts, such as Commissioners of Police, Area Commanders and DPOs. If you cannot inspire public confidence you will not merit such positions.

“We want competence, we want honesty, we want integrity. That is the only way we can inspire public confidence. We want support of members of the public. We cannot be calling for support when we also are not showing transparency, we’re not showing competence and we are not showing capability.

“It is when we are able to do all these that we will mobilise for public support.

“Henceforth, promotion in the police will be merit-based. There will be no special promotion and if you want special promotion you must merit it. For now, dishing out promotions anyhow has been stopped.

“I want you all to imbibe the spirit of cooperation and collaboration with members of the public.

“Modern policing is community-based, it is intelligence-led, and it is technology-driven. We must show commitment. We must show capacity. We must show integrity. We must show to the members of the public that we can be trusted. We are the lead agency in internal security. We have to demonstrate this.

“We must show commitment to professionalism. We must improve our relationship with members of the public. We must stop corruption and extortion in our system. It doesn’t pay us.

“Those who have been engaging in extortion, I want to ask you, how has extortion improved your quality of life?” The IGP enquired.

He praised his performance and called on the State Command not to relent in its effort towards making Kano a crime-free society.

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