Police halt recruitment of 10,000 officers approved by Buhari

Recruitment of 10, 000 men into the Nigerian Police Force as promised by President Muhammadu Buhari may wait till 2016 due to inadequate budget­ary provision.

Former Inspector-Gen­eral of Police and Chair­man of Police Service Commission(PSC), Sir Mike Okiro, announced this in Benin City at the weekend during the com­missioning of the renovat­ed Ivbiotor Police Station.

He said rehabilitation of Police barracks and sta­tions across the country might precede the recruit­ment exercise.

“Police stations have been desolate for five years and before we recruit, we need to make provisions to train them, pay them sala­ries and allowances.

This was not captured in this year’s budget; hope­fully, by next year, we will begin the process,” he said.

The former police boss commended Deacon Fes­tus Idjoko, whose firm, Whosco Ventures Limited, undertook the renovation of the Ivbiotor Police Sta­tion, adding “Idjoko has done what people should do; he calls it corporate so­cial responsibility- I call it national responsibility. We cannot sit down and shout, ‘condemn and vilify the Police by doing nothing to assist it to do better.’

“What Idjoko has done through his company, is worthy of emulation as, he did not only see the envi­ronment in which the po­lice work, he felt he could make it better for the po­lice to work better. Other companies and individuals should emulate this ges­ture,” Okiro added.

In his speech, Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike said the ‘new’ Police station re­flected a paradigm shift in community policing.

He said whereas the Ivbiotor community pro­vided the plot of land on which the police station stands, Idjoko, a good citizen rehabilitated it so that the Police could work with passion, commitment and dedication in a condu­cive environment.

In his comment, Dea­con Idjoko said the gesture was part of the corporate social respon­sibility (CSR) of his firm for 2014.

He explained that the gesture was a clear reflec­tion of his organisation’s sincere desire to give back to the society, adding that the company would un­dertake the cost of routine maintenance of the facili­ties at the station for one year.