PSC: 925 names smuggled into police recruitment list

The Police Service Commission (PSC) says 925 names out of the 10,000 recruited constables were smuggled into the list of officers employed into the police force.

Ikechukwu Ani, the commission’s spokesman, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the 925 persons were those who did not go through the stages and processes of recruitment.

Ani was reacting to claims that the PSC is delaying recruitment of constables into the police force.

He said constables that were properly recruited have been screened, given appointment letters, captured into Integrated Pay-Roll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for the payment of their salaries, and allowances approved.

“The Commission wishes to clarify that it had to bend backwards to accommodate the list of these candidates even after the Court of Appeal gave judgment in favour of the Commission nullifying the hijack of the recruitment exercise by the Nigeria Police Force,” the statement read.

“The Appeal Court judgment which is still subsisting had declared the exercise null and void and returned the Constitutional Powers of the commission to recruit all persons into the Nigeria Police Force.

“It is also necessary to clarify that in the cause of screening of the list of the 10,000 successful candidates, the commission discovered that 925 persons never applied for recruitment and did not go through the stages and processes of recruitment. These included screening, aptitude test and medical examinations.”

Ani said the commission has screened 925 persons, adding that successful candidates have been absorbed into the force.

He said PSC will approve their recruitment at its plenary meeting next week.

“The commission however in the overall interest of the nation and considering that resources had been expended in the training of these candidates and that these candidates had been exposed to weapon and weaponry decided to rescreen them,” it read.

“These candidates already rescreened, except those found to be criminally minded (with mutilated certificates) are expected to be absorbed into the Force.

“The commission is expected to approve their recruitment at its next Plenary Meeting holding next week after which they will receive letters of appointment and subsequently captured by IPPIS.”

The PSC took over the recruitment exercise after challenging the powers of Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), to recruit 10,000 police constables into the force.

On December 2, 2019, Inyang Ekwo, judge of a federal high court, Abuja, dismissed PSC’s suit for “lacking merit”.

However, on September 30, 2020, a three-man panel of the appellate court led by Olabisi Ige ruled that the IGP and the NPF lack powers to recruit constables into the force.

The court unanimously held that the power to carry out the recruitment was exclusively that of the PSC.