- By Halimah Olamide
List Submitted Fraught With Failed Applicants, Unqualified Persons – IGP Office
Most worrisome is the allegation of financial dealings and corrupt practices leading to the outcome where unqualified and untrainable individuals have been shortlisted.”
The Nigeria Police Force on Saturday cried out over alleged fraud in the 2022/23 recruitment of new personnel into the force.
The Office of the Inspector General of Police, in a statement by Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said that the police was surprised to find that unqualified persons, those who did not even apply and those who failed the Computer-Based Tests were many on the list.
The office of the IGP said though it has no problem with the ruling of the court that ceded the responsibility for the recruitment of new personnel into the force to the Police Service Commission, it however would not accept fraudulent recruitments of unqualified persons into the force.
“Upon careful scrutiny of the list released on the PSC portal, it was discovered that:
i) Several names of persons purported to be names of successful candidates are those who did not even apply and therefore did not take part in the recruitment exercise.
ii) The published list contains several names of candidates who failed either the Computer Based Test (CBT) or the physical screening exercise or both.
iii) There are those who made it to the last stage of the exercise but were disqualified having been found Medically unfit through the standardised medical test but who also made the list of successful candidates as published by the PSC.
vi) Most worrisome is the allegation of financial dealings and corrupt practices leading to the outcome where unqualified and untrainable individuals have been shortlisted.”
The police statement, made available to the NPO Reports Saturday morning, said the alarm became necessary after series of complaints and allegations of corruption raised by unsuspecting candidates and stakeholders on the irregularities that marred the exercise most especially the disappearance of the names of screened candidates who were successful to the last stage.
The statement added, “The Inspector General of Police had on 10th June 2024 written a letter of objection to the list addressed to the Chairman of the Commission, citing the discoveries listed above.
“The reaction of the IGP was without prejudice to the power of the Commission to recruit for the police as ruled by the Supreme court but this power does not include the power to recruit unqualified and untrained individuals for the police. Noting that it is the police that bears the brunt of recruitment of unqualified individuals and not the PSC.”
The force said those who make fraudulent recruitments possible will later accuse the police tomorrow of inefficiency when their recruits start messing up.
The police added, “The Police therefore has since dissociated itself from the published list and called for a review that will be transparent and credible.”
The force reminded Nigerians that the leadership of the Police Service Commission, after the pronouncement of the Supreme Court ruling on the powers of the Commission to recruit for the Police, constituted a Joint Recruitment Board, to be headed by one of the Commissioners of the PSC, with the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Training and Development in the Police Force as its Secretary.
It lamented, “But surprisingly, the Board was crippled and never allowed to carry out its mandate, insomuch that even the final list was not consented to by the Board.
The Nigeria Police Force therefore takes exception to this unpleasant development and calls for a total review of the process with a view to recruiting qualified, competent, trainable and productive hands into the Nigeria Police Force, in line with the vision of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led administration on police reform.
“The NPF hereby reiterates that we are not unconcerned about the plights and ordeals of prospective recruits, who have been subjected to all forms of rigorous screening exercise, assuring that it is our commitment to ensure that the process is thoroughly reviewed, stands fruitful and successful for the betterment of the Nigeria Police, and by extension the country.”
The controversial recruitment took place under the chairmanship of the recently sacked chairman of the commission, Dr. Solomon Arase.
Arase was sacked last week and was replaced by the Deputy Inspector General Police Hamishu Argungun (rtd).