A
new revelation has been made showing how junior police officers are
being mistreated and sidelined in the Nigeria Police Force.
Mike Okiro, former Inspector General of Police
A report by SaharaReporters has shown
that the Police Service Commission (PSC), actively works against the
interests of well-educated members of the inspectorate cadre as well as
the rank and file of the Nigeria Police Force.
The website exclusively reports that policemen in these categories
are routinely ignored by the PSC, despite having obtained higher
education, when vacancies exist in the Assistant Superintendent of
Police cadre.
The Nigeria Police Force has three entry levels. One is by
enlistment into the constable cadre, while another is via enlistment
through the cadet inspector cadre. The last is via the Assistant
Superintendent of Police (ASP) cadre.
A source told SaharaReporters that the Force has never found it
difficult attracting recruits through the constable cadres because of
the entry educational requirements are low. For the ASP cadre, however,
higher qualifications, including degrees and diplomas are required, a
situation that compelled many in the inspectorate cadre as well as rank
and file to obtain diplomas from polytechnics as well as first and
second university degrees.
Their hopes of absorption into the higher cadre is based on Section
39 of Part IV (Appointments) of the Police Act and Regulation.
"When vacancies in the establishment of Assistant
Superintendents of Police cannot, by reason of unavailability of
suitable candidates, be filled by promotions from within the Force, the
Inspector-General shall so inform the Nigeria Police Council and may
request it to arrange for the posts to be filled by direct entry," the section states.
Police sources told SaharaReporters that in the past, when not many
within the inspectorate and rank and file cadres had higher education,
the PSC justifiably recruited civilians with tertiary educational
qualifications into the ASP cadre.
That, however, is no longer the case and implies that the PSC is
deliberately disregarding the provisions “unavailability” and
“suitability” as conditions for filling the ASP cadre by direct entry.
“These days, members of the police rank and file are well
educated, with some having second university degrees. They obtained
these degrees in the hope that they would enjoy career progression,
which seemed a distinct possibility under two former Inspectors-General
of Police. In 2014 and 2015, they were told to participate in a
documentation exercise, which they presumed would give their careers the
envisaged push, having obtained higher education. That, however, was
discontinued in 2016,” a source told SaharaReporters.
As at 2014, said another source, the police rank and file
population, which took part in the documentation exercise, stood at
13,386. Because the force could not promote all those eligible at once,
it imposed other criteria for qualification. Last year, the process was
discontinued, explained the source, because other extraneous factors
came into play.
Notable among these, he disclosed, was the hijack of the process by
politicians in their bid to ensure that their candidates benefited.
The source said Mr. Mike Okiro, Chairman of the PSC, is running an
entity that willfully disregards its own rules by its failure upgrade
qualified members of the police rank and file. Mr. Okiro is said to be
aware that the ill-treatment of the rank and file has resulted in low
morale, especially among those with first, second and even third degrees
in various academic disciplines. Many of those in this category are
demoralized because they do not earn what is commensurate with their
educational qualifications.
“We want the current Inspector-General of Police to, who has
shown interest in the welfare of the rank and file, to re-present this
issue before the PSC Chairman, so that the yearly enlistment, especially
into the ASP cadre, will include batches of in-service graduates.
“Once this is done, a large number of those with tertiary
educational qualification within the inspectorate cadre and the rank and
file will be absorbed,” reasoned a source.
A major benefit of this approach, he added, is that in-service
graduates, who have already undergone basic training, will be cheaper to
provide with advanced training than those plucked from the civilian
populace.
“The current rank and file have done nothing to deserve this
life of servitude. If this trend is allowed to continue, there will be
greater dejection and indiscipline. We are already being laughed at by
our colleagues with lower qualifications. They are asking what
difference exists between them and us. This is demoralizing,” said a policemen ruefully.
********
Via SaharaReporters
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