President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday warned
that he would not tolerate past practice of extorting
money from applicants before being recruited into
the police force.

The President gave this warning sequel to Monday’s
approval by him for the recruitment of 10,000
policemen and women.

He said that he would not tolerate any irregularities
or extortion of money from unemployed Nigerians in
the coming recruitment into the police.

“You must ensure that the recruitment process is
transparent. Those who will conduct the recruitment
must be above board. It should not be heard that
they receive gratification or extort money from those
who want to enlist in the police,” the President
warned.

He spoke during a meeting with officials of the
Ministry of Police Affairs and the Police Service
Commission in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

A statement by Presidential spokesman, Femi
Adesina, quoted Buhari as also directing the
Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to
prune down the number of policemen attached to
dignitaries across the country.

He also directed the police boss to redeploy all
policemen withdrawn from such roles to regular
police duties.

On the lack of timely promotions in the force, Buhari
counselled the PSC to review the current structure of the police, and make recommendations on how the
problem could be solved to boost the morale of
serving policemen.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Police
Affairs, Dr. James Obiegbu, while briefing the
President, had listed inadequate police personnel,
dwindling finances and non-rehabilitation of police
training schools as some of the challenges facing the police.

Chairman of the PSC, Mr. Mike Okiro, said the
country needed more than the current 305,579
policemen and women for effective policing.

He thanked Buhari for approving the recruitment of
additional 10,000 policemen and women.
Okiro, while speaking to journalists after the meeting
with the President, said Nigeria had a deficit of
19,500 policemen.

He said the recruitment of 10,000 policemen
promised by the President on Monday would not
commence immediately because there were
guidelines and procedures to be followed.

He explained that the police had only replaced 1,500
out of the more than 21,000 policemen who left the
service as a result of death, retirement or dismissal.

He said the situation had left a huge deficit that is
currently affecting the operation of the force.
He said, “Over the years, more than 21,000 police
officers have retired, some dismissed, some died
between 2010 and today.

“Of this number, only about 1,500 have been
replaced, leaving a deficit of a very large number.

“So we discussed this with Mr. President. Of course,
you are aware that a few days ago, Mr. President said
the police are going to embark on recruitment of
10,000 people.

“We discussed with him on modalities and how to
ensure that the 10,000 people are recruited to
maintain the security of Nigeria.”

When asked how soon the recruitment would
commence, Okiro said infrastructure had to be put in
place before the exercise could be carried out.

He said most of the police training equipment had
become obsolete.

He said while some of them would need to be
replaced, some others would be renovated first
before recruitment.

“There will be procedures and guidelines before
recruitment takes place. So when all these things
have taken place, the ‘i’ is dotted and the‘t’ is crossed,
recruitment will start,” Okiro said.

He said that the President had assured him and his
team that the police would be encouraged by being
well-funded and well-equipped within the provisions
of the budget to make sure Nigerians received
adequate security service.

The recruitment conducted by the Nigeria
Immigration Service in March 2014 led to the death
of at least 16 young job seekers during stampedes at
the various recruitment centres.

Whereas the available opening to be filled by the NIS
was 4,000, no fewer than six million candidates were
said to have been invited to participate in the
exercise, which held in centres across the 36 states
and the Federal Capital Territory.

All the applicants were said to have been made to
pay N1,000 for application forms.