News: N8.6bn Needed To Recruit 10,000 Policemen - Police Service Commission (PSC)

Police Service Commission (PSC) - The chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Mr. Mike Okiro has said that the sum of N8.6 billion naira would be required for the recruitment of 10,000 police personnel into the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

Okiro, who is a former Inspector-General of Police, made the disclosure at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Police Affairs at the National Assembly in Abuja yesterday.

The public hearing was conducted to address issues of extra-judicial killings and high profile murders; kidnappings and welfare of officers, among others.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari sometime in 2015 issued a directive that 10,000 police personnel be recruited to reposition and strengthen the country’s police force.

According to Okiro, a breakdown of the financial implication for the recruitment exercise shows that 339,473,092.50 will be for overhead, 1,892,891.25 for advertisement and 1,167,000.00 will be for technical resources.

179,000,000.00 will be for the renovation of training institutions, 3,489,750,000.00 for feeding, 2,835,441,000.00 for allowances and salaries, 1,013,550,000.00 for accoutrement and 118,290,000.00 for teaching aids.

Arms and ammunition for shooting range 450,000,000.00, teaching allowance 61,266,281.00 and 117,958,719.00 for monitoring and evaluation.
The total figure is 8,607,788,983.75.

Okiro said that the exercise intends to recruit 7,500 personnel as Police Constables, 500 as Cadet Inspectors, 500 as Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police and 1,500 various ranks under professionals cadre.

He, however, pointed out that the recruitment exercise is partly dependent upon the readiness of the Police Training School and Collages.

“As at today, the institutions are undergoing renovations and they are about 65 per cent completed,’’ Okiro said.

He added that the Police authority had assured the Commission that by the end of June, 2016, they would be 100 per cent completed and ready to commence training.

Okiro, however, said that the selection of the most suitably qualified candidates for recruitment into the various ranks and cadres shall be completed by June 30, 2016.

“The training of selected candidates is expected to commence in the first week of July 2016,’’ Okiro stated.

Earlier, Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who declared the event opened, assured that the parliament would provide legislative backing toward measures aimed at addressing national security challenges.

The Speaker said that the recruitment of more qualified police personnel is aimed at curbing the perennial insecurity in the country.

"To this end the Nigerian people are demanding for transparent process in the recruitment of the men and officers and adherence to the principles of federal character which is enshrined in the 1999 constitution as amended,’’ Dogara said.

Source: Leadership