Police to recruit 155, 000 in five years to meet UN standard

As part of measures to mitigate the dwindling manpower of the police and meet the United Nations (UN) standard of effective policing in Nigeria, the Nigeria police, said it is poised to recruit about 155,000 policemen and women in the next five years.

There has been clamour for more policemen to curb the rising criminality in the country, as current workforce of the police did not meet the UN recommendation of 222 police officers per 100,000.

The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Training and Development and Supervising (DIG) in charge of South-South geopolitical zone, Mr. Emmanuel Inyang, noted that more recruitment were in the pipeline to get enough manpower for the force.

The police boss said the hierarchy had written to President Muhammadu Buhari to give them the power to recruit about 155,000 police officers for the next five years, that is 31,000 policemen every year.

Inyang stated this yesterday at the headquarters of the Bayelsa Police Command in continuation of his inspection tours of the commands under his watch.He also said the police is aware that some personnel worked for up to 12 hours, stressing that the hours would be reduced to about eight hours for effective discharge of their duties.
On the crime wave in Bayelsa, the DIG said that available statistics indicated that the crime rate had reduced drastically.

He charged officers and men of the force to shun corruption and embrace President Muhammadu Buhari’s change syndrome.Inyang, who said discipline remained key to the police organisation, emphasised the imperative need for the officers and men to continue to be disciplined.

The Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Amba Asuquo, said the command in a bid to secure the state had established a functional community policing programme, stressing that it is proactive, intelligent driven and result-oriented.