IGP counters police commission, disowns advert on recruitment of constables

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has dismissed an advertisement by the Police Service Commission (PSC) calling for applicants to apply as constables in the force.

A recruitment advert calling on interested applicants had recently gone viral on social media and job websites.

Reacting to the development, Muyiwa Adejobi, force spokesperson, asked Nigerians to disregard the call for recruitment.

Adejobi said the force has no connection with the advert which he said was placed by PSC in one of the national dailies.

“The Nigeria Police Force wishes to inform well-meaning members of the public that it has not commenced the 2022 police constables recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force contrary to a publication on Page 21 of Daily Sun Newspaper of Thursday August 11, 2022 by the Police Service Commission (PSC),” he said in a statement on Monday.

“The police similarly states unequivocally that the advert has no connection with the Nigeria Police Force nor is it in tandem with the Police recruitment process, and should be disregarded in all its entirety.

“The website to which the publication refers the intending candidates to – http://www.recruitment.psc.gov.ng — is not associated with the Nigeria Police Force.

“The Nigeria Police Force hereby calls on all stakeholders and intending applicants to discountenance the information in both the newspaper and on the portal as the website is not the official portal for Police constables recruitment.”

This is not the first time an inspector-general of police will clash with the leadership of the PSC over recruitment of constables.

In 2019, Mohammed Adamu, former IGP, recruited 10,000 constables into the force.

Displeased by the decision of Adamu, the PSC filed a suit against the action of the IGP.

At the federal high court, powers of the IGP to carry out the said recruitment were upheld but the appeal court later ruled that the PSC has the constitutional responsibility of recruiting police constables.

The court of appeal also declared the Police Act 2020, as it affects the constitutional mandate of PSC in terms of recruitment, as illegal.

THE LEGAL LOGJAM

Highlighting the powers of PSC, Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 constitution (as amended) states that: “The Commission shall have power to — a. appoint persons to offices (other than office of the Inspector-General of Police) in the Nigeria Police Force.”

On the other hand, Section 18(1) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020, which was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, states that: “The responsibility for the recruitment of recruit constables into the Nigeria Police Force and recruit cadets into the Nigeria Police Academy shall be the duty of th Inspector-General of Police.”