Nigerians, not too long ago, heartily welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to shore up the numerical strength of Nigeria Police Force with the recruitment of 10,000 personnel. The enthusiasm that greeted the commencement of the recruitment is, however, already giving way to anxiety in several quarters, following reports that the federal character principle, which is used to ensure equity and fair representation of all parts of the country in public sector recruitments, may not be adhered to in the employment of 7500 constables in the ongoing exercise.

Related News

The recruitment of 10,000 police personnel comprising 500 Cadet Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs); 500 Cadet Inspectors, 1500 Specialist Officers and 7500 Constables is being carried out by the Police Service Commission.
If the exercise is based on the federal character principle, each of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is expected to have no fewer than 13 Cadet ASPs, 13 Cadet Inspectors, 40 Specialists and 202 Constables.
Recruitment of police personnel and other employees in the Federal Civil Service is usually based on the principle of equality of the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT. It has, however, been reported that that principle will only be adhered to in the recruitment of the higher ranking policemen while that of the Constables will be based on the equality of local governments.
Considering the lopsidedness of the existing 774 local government areas in the country, states with higher number of local governments will have undue advantage over states with fewer local governments.  For instance, Kano State with 44 local governments will have over 400 constables while Bayelsa, with eight local governments, will have 80 or even lower. Lagos State, which has a huge population like Kano State, but with only 20 local governments, will have about 200. Such lopsidedness in the recruitment of the 7500 constables will not make for equity and even policing in the country.
In other words, it may be a recipe for disgruntlement and uneven representation of the geopolitical zones in the police force. This is a scenario that should be avoided by strictly adhering to the federal character principle in the exercise. The country will gain nothing from courting controversy in this regard.
Since there is no smoke without fire, we urge the government to look into this allegation and do the right thing. If there is any ongoing advocacy or order on the use of local governments as a basis for the recruitment of Constables, as has been reported, let all those behind the obnoxious scheming against the equal representation of states forget the idea. They should not drag Nigerians into needless crisis over what should be a routine police recruitment. Let the policies that guided previous exercises be used for the present one.
We urge the Federal Government to clarify this issue to put an end to the disquiet it is generating among stakeholders. The Police Service Commission should also be forthcoming on the modalities of the exercise. Government and its agencies must be transparent in all their activities. They owe the public an explanation whenever there is a misunderstanding of issues in the country. Let the government speak up on this matter to reassure the people that the ongoing recruitment into the police will be equitable and clearly seen to be fair to every part of the country.
It is clear that the 36 states are the federating units and not the local governments. Recruiting the constables based on local governments will make the exercise lopsided as we have already illustrated with Kano, Bayelsa and Lagos states.
We enjoin the Police Service Commission to ensure that the exercise is done based on equality of states as was previously done in the past. There is no point to change the pattern of recruitment in favour of local governments now when it is clear that the councils are not evenly distributed in the country.
Let each state ensure that it spreads its quota among its constituent parts so that a few local governments do not take up all the slots allotted to it. Everything must be done to ensure the equality of states in this exercise. Let the recruitment of the police personnel not be a one-off exercise. It should continue until Nigeria gets the actual number of policemen required to effectively police the nation.