President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been called upon to probe the allegations of the Inspector-General of Police Dr. Kayode Egbetokun on the last police recruitment exercise in the Country.
A Human Resource Expert, Alh. Abdullahi Ibrahim made the call in Ilorin – the Kwara State capital today while reacting to the police recruitment saga as exposed by the Police Authorities last week-end.
The HR Expert who is a retired Director from the Kwara State Public Service and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), noted with serious concern how Public Service in Nigeria has been bastardised not only on recruitment but on training, promotion and discipline.
He wondered why a very critical sector of security like the Police could be enmeshed in recruitment crisis again after several years of abandonment of police recruitment exercise during the last Buhari’s Civilian Administration.
It should be recalled that since 2018, attempt to recruit 10,000 police personnel by Federal Government to beef-up Nation’s Security was 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 officiallyreleased by the PSC was rejected by the Police Authorities must be a matter of serious concern to all patriotic Nigerians, he said.
Alh. Abdullahi observed that the bane of the Nigerian Public Service since the return to democracy in 1999 has been corruption, favouratism, lack of due process in recruitment, undeserved interference in the recruitment, promotion and discipline processes by Top Government Functionaries both from the Executive and Legislature; adding that where such inadequacies featured, recruitment would not meet required standard; and this is what has happened that caused the complaints and rejection of the recruitment by the IGP.
Alh. Abdullahi Ibrahim who described himself as a product of highly respected Public Service – having the Service in 1973 and voluntarily retired since 2008, regretted that values and virtues of the Nigerian Public Service has been eroded due to service political appointments given to undeserved public officers, lack of merit and credibility in recruitment, promotion, discipline and undeserved violation of extant regulations when appointments are being considered. These happen both at Federal and States Levels.
He commended the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Airforce for maintaining high standard in their recruitment and training processes; adding that these qualities have been responsible for their good performances on their jobs.
The HR Professional wondered why the Police Service Commission should directly involve itself in the recruitment of police personnel of lower cadre of Grade Level 01 to 06; stating that it is the direct responsibility of the Police Hierarchy under the leadership of the Inspector-General of Police [IGP].
He said under the Public Service Rules, recruitment into Grade Levels 01 to 06 is a delegated authority, maintaining that the Police Service Commission [PSC] that would entertain complaints and petitions on all recruitment exercises ought not to insist on wanting to conduct the recruitment especially at the lower levels. He said now that it was done in questionable manner whereby it was reported that some candidates who did not participate in the competitive examinations, those who failed CBT Test and some who are not medically fit as well as unqualified candidates were recruited, the Police Authorities was right in rejecting them as due process was allegedly jettisoned.
Alh. Abdullahi Ibrahim stated that while quota system and federal character principles are being followed in recruitment process, merit must be given greater priority as untrainable police personnels cannot be suitable for our security system.
He said those who passed the competitive examinations, the Computer Based Tests and are found to be medically and physical fit from all the 36 States in the Federation and FCT should be first be pre-qualified for the police job before being picked state-by-state – as security is a sensitive duty that must be devoid of any parochialism such as political, religious or ethnic considerations.
For the Nation to succeed in fighting corruption, insecurity and economic crimes, political office holders no matter their status should allow due process and compliance with extant rules and regulations in the recruitment process.
The HR Expert who is also the National Coordinator of Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria, stated further that as the Nation battle security challenges across the Federation, one of the ways to tackle it is not only to increase the numerical strength of the police personnel but to enlist competent, efficient, capable, physically and medically fit personnel that could do the job creditably.
He said Nigerians should not be surprised that the Nation is battling myriads of security challenges endlessly since 2009 – stating that recruitment process into the Police, numerical strength of the police personnel, regular training received by police personnel, logistics including quality and quantity of strong weapons provided by the Nation’s authorities as well as the utilisation of intelligence gathered with the support of various Communities could make the Nation surmount the current security challenges.
He called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to relent in his determination to fight insecurity, adding that there is a nexus between the economic hardship the people of Nigeria are facing the prevalent insecurity and ability of the police to fight crimes in Nigeria; wondering why it has been so difficult to recruit 10,000 qualified police personnel for Nigeria since over 4 years ago.
He also warned on the dangers of slow implementation of government policies which he said could hamper development and economic growth citing the example delay in implementation of adopted Oronsaye Report on merger, subsuming and scrapping of some Federal Government Commissions and Agencies, which if implemented promptly could reduce government annual expenditures.
He called for scrapping of Ministries of Police Affairs and Niger Delta stating that with Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and other Regional Development Commisions being established, the Ministry is no longer relevant.
On the Police, Alh. Ibrahim said with The Police Council, The Police Trust Fund, the Police Service Commission and the Police Hierachy itself headed by IGP, it is a colossal waste of public funds to retain the Ministry of Police Affairs as IGP supposed to report directly to Mr. President as a Service Chief and Mr. President is the head the highest Police Hierarchy which is the POLICE COUNCIL.
Still on Oronsanye Report, the HR Expert commented on the fears being entertained in some quarters that merging or scrapping of some Agencies could lead to retrenchment of workers, the HR Expert disagreed with that view stating that with embargo on employment in the Federal Service for the past several years, Staff of Agencies and Commissions merged or scrapped could be deployed to Ministries, Department and Agencies that are retained without any job-loss whatsoever; insisting that non-composition of relevant Ad-Hoc Committee to implement the decision of merging, scrapping and deployment has been the main problem confronting Federal Government and should be addressed without further delay.
