By DAVID ADEOYE

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, says the Nigeria Police will soon begin the recruitment of 20,000 junior police officers.

The IGP gave the hint on Tuesday evening, when he paid a working visit to Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State at the State Secretariat, Agodi in Ibadan.

Baba informed the governor that Nigeria Police has every intention to increase its strength in terms of junior police officers’ recruitment.

He said it had overcame all the issues that had been delaying the recruitment process, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval for the recruitment.

He assured the state government that every local government area would benefit from the recruitment, saying that the recruited officers would serve in their respective local government areas after training.

The IGP said that the recruitment exercise would not only expand the capacity of the force in combating crime, but also emboldened its community policing strategy.

Baba said that his working visit was to interact with the police personnel to boost their morale after the EndSARS protest.

He said the visit was to also engage some other stakeholders on the issue of community policing, which, according to him, is an adopted strategy policing in Nigeria.

“We have not just started now; it has started as far back as 2004, but it has not been effectively used by both government and members of the public,” the IGP said.

He implored the governor to continue supporting and assisting the police.

Responding, Makinde informed the IGP that the Police Command in Oyo State had been trying its best, cooperating with the people of the state and all other security agencies.

The governor said that the police were hostile when Amotekun was established, “because they felt that Amotekun came on board to take up their jobs and responsibilities.

“But over these few months, with the leadership of police in the state, we have serious cooperation and the inter-agency rivalry has been reduced to barest minimum in the state.

“We also know that this is a challenging period for the country, the resources are dwindling, but we have challenges all over, especially the insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West, kidnapping in the South and ethnic tension everywhere.

“So, we have to keep supporting the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force,” he said.

The governor used the opportunity of the visit to request for the establishment of another Mobile Force Squadron in Oyo Town, promising that his government would provide the basic infrastructure for its take off.

He said the 72 Squadron in Ago-Are, which was approved by the former IGP, was assisting in addressing security challenges in Oke-Ogun axis of the state. (NAN)

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