The Chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC), DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd), has sought the support of the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), in conducting drug integrity tests for police recruits.
Argungu made the request when he led a delegation of the PSC management on a courtesy visit to Marwa at the agency’s National Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that the request is aimed at ensuring that those with the right mindset eventually graduate from police training colleges across the country.
While commending the leadership of the NDLEA for the support received so far, the PSC boss said his visit was to seek further assistance.
He noted that when the process and procedures are not followed correctly in recruitment, the final product or trained personnel may be of poor quality, which makes it very important to adhere strictly to proper procedures.
“We are going to decentralise this screening exercise to different states of the federation. And because there is NDLEA in every state of the country, we want them to assist us in screening those who are already on drugs in whatever form, because we can’t churn out and put arms in the hands of people already dependent on illicit drugs; that is dangerous. This is the main reason why we are here, and we are thanking you for your cooperation,” he said.
In his response, Marwa noted that the drug scourge is a challenge affecting every part of national life and exacerbating security challenges. He said this explains why there is a need for all stakeholders to adopt a whole-of-government and society approach to curbing the menace.
“On your request for drug integrity test for new police recruits, we are delighted about this and we’re happy to collaborate with you on this. We are prepared across all our commands all over the country with high quality test kits that will give you the right results. This is important because candidates play all manner of tricks with urine samples, but our kits are produced to detect all of those. In all, you can rest assured we’ll be glad to work with you and support you on this,” the NDLEA boss stated.
