The Police Service Commission (PSC) has said that it was poised to recruit 30,000 police constables in the next three years in order to boost manpower requirements for the fight against insurgency, armed banditry and kidnapping.

It said as soon as the 2020 exercise, which was delayed by litigation, was concluded, the commission would embark on the recruitment of another 10,000 for 2021 and subsequently, the 2022 edition in fulfillment of the presidential directive for the recruitment of 60,000 personnel since 2018.

Speaking in Abuja, Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mr. Musuliu Smith, a retired Inspector-General of Police, said the position of the commission became necessary following repeated calls and inquiries from Nigerians on the position of the commission on the on-going exercise specifically on whether the commission was part of the process of the on-going completion of the 2020 recruitment exercise.

He said aptitude tests for shortlisted applicants from the earlier suspended 2020 recruitment were held on Friday, 29 and Saturday October 30, 2021 across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

“Mr. President, had, in 2018, approved the recruitment of 10,000 Nigerians annually into the Constable cadre of the Nigeria Police Force for a period of six years. This is to inject needed additional personnel and to bridge the manpower gap in the force, especially with the resurgence of banditry, terrorism and kidnapping in different parts of the country and regular loss of personnel through dismissal, retirement, natural death, accident and others,” he said.

He said the 2020 recruitment exercise which was suspended midway was the third edition in the fulfillment of the presidential directive after a successful 2018 and 2019 exercises.

“It is necessary to state that the on-going completion of the suspended 2020 edition was a joint decision of the commission and that of the Nigeria Police Force and it was meant to further fast track the injection of required personnel into the force. A Joint Committee of the commission and that of the Nigeria Police Force met severally in the commission and approved a timeline for the completion of the exercise,” he said.

He noted that with the completion of the aptitude tests across the country recently, successful candidates are currently undergoing medical examinations at the 17 zonal police headquarters in the country after which fit and proper 10,000 candidates would be recruited by the commission and sent to the police colleges/training schools for training.

“The commission is aware of the manpower gaps in the Nigeria Police Force especially with rapid wastages of officers and men due to many reasons earlier highlighted.

“The commission wishes to commend Mr. President for his kind and gracious approval for the recruitment of 10,000 Nigerians into the constable cadre of the Nigeria Police Force continuously for six years. We are grateful to the National Assembly for the support in approving releases of required funds for this exercise,” he said.

Smith, in response to questions, had said he would consider some aspects of a proposal by the German government to train police personnel in managing protests without the use of weapons.

A German government delegation on Tuesday made a proposal to train men of the Nigeria Police in the management of protests without the use of live bullets and other weapons.

A high-level delegation from Germany which visited the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Smith, said it was willing to train the police on protests management.

On the delegation were the Deputy Director for West and Central Africa, German Federal Foreign Office, Mr. Alexandre Callegaro, the Police Adviser at Stabilisation Unit, German Federal Foreign Office, Mr. Sascha Weh, a retired Inspector-General of the German Federal Police, Matthias Seeger, ex-CSP Gerd Baltes, retired SP Horst Schewe and former SP Wolfgang Nikolaus.

The team had earlier visited the force headquarters where they held discussions with the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Usman Baba.

Seeger, who led the delegation, said it would be a great start for the police if his team could train the new crop of recruits into the Nigeria Police on best practices.

“I think the best is, for a start, if you want to build a house, you start with the basement. You focus on very few things, maybe two or three. All the demonstrations we had in Europe, there are very few unique situations where police use their weapons; 99.9 per cent, no weapons.

“So, we offer to train for best practices. You have a great chance when you train 30,000 young women and men to become policemen, you take the best. It’s a big chance for you now when you train young people. This is the future of the police of Nigeria, so you train them well from the first moment,” he said.

The retired German police chief said there were many policing experts in Germany willing to support the reformation of the Nigeria Police, adding that he was ready to engage with the authorities on the training modalities and start as soon as possible, noting that this was his vision.

In his remarks, Smith countered the German’s position on the management of protests without the use of firearms stating that Nigerian protesters were usually armed and law enforcement agents have had to defend themselves from assault by the protesters.

“Let me draw your attention to one issue. When we have protests or demonstrations in this country, it would not be fair to compare it to the ones in Europe and I have my reasons for this.

“For the last five, 10 years, what the men had to face in such situations, I think they have to be well prepared if they value their own lives. They need to be well-armed, well prepared so that if they try all other means of dispersing them or making arrests, they may take some decisions or sometimes, some persons get hurt.

“But on a few occasions, they are forced to use weapons not only to save their lives but the lives of innocent citizens around the area. So, I don’t think they are totally handling demonstrations very well, there is a lot of room for improvement.”

The former police chief argued that the personnel cannot manage protests with weapons, adding that they needed to be well-armed for the safety of citizens at the scene.

(Adopted from THISDAY)

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