Police, PSC agree on constable recruitment list ‘after extensive deliberations’

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) have agreed on the list of successful candidates for the 2022 constable recruitment exercise.

In a statement on Tuesday, Muyiwa Adejobi, force spokesperson, said NPF and PSC have “worked diligently to ensure that the recruitment process remains transparent, fair, and merit-based”.

The force spokesperson quoted Kayode Egbetokun, inspector-general of police (IGP), to have expressed satisfaction with the agreement between the PSC and NPF for the final merit list of the recruitment exercise.

“Following extensive deliberations and collaboration, both the NPF and PSC have worked diligently to ensure that the recruitment process remains transparent, fair, and merit-based,” the statement reads.

“In light of this development, training for the newly recruited officers is scheduled to commence on Saturday, August 10th, 2024.

“The training programme will be intensive, designed to equip the recruits with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their duties effectively and uphold the core values of the Nigeria Police Force.

“In furtherance of the directive of the IGP, the trainees are to be schooled on modern policing ethics and principles, community policing strategies, ICT, artificial intelligence, human relations, attitudinal and behavioural change.”

On Monday, PSC announced that the training of successful candidates for the police constable recruitment exercise would begin on August 10.

Ikechukwu Ani, PSC spokesperson, said the police recruitment board has approved the commencement of the training.

In June, the NPF rejected the list of successful candidates for the constable recruitment exercise over alleged corruption and irregularities.

The NPF said when the PSC portal was scrutinised, it was discovered that “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”.

Reacting to the NPF’s comment, the commission asked the police to provide evidence of the corruption allegations.

The PSC accused the police of an attempt to usurp its constitutional powers to recruit police personnel.