THE Hardball column on the back page of THE NATION newspaper of December 13, 2010, was as much a broadside against the police high command as it was an ill-informed disparagement of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos in Plateau State.

The column was a commentary on the nomination of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Marvel Akpoyibo, to participate in the next 10-month-long Senior Executive Course (SEC) at NIPSS. While querying the choice of Akpoyibo, the column asserted without proof that the Institute “has become a graveyard for some promising careers and avenue for settling scores”.

The grouse of Hardball is that Police Commissioner Akpoyibo has been doing a terrific job of policing in the mega city, and that sending him to NIPSS was intended as punishment scarcely disguised as continuing education.

I will not dwell on the internal procedures of various organisations and establishments in nominating qualified officers for participation in the otherwise highly valued SEC programme at NIPSS. In the instant case, I believe the police authorities are competent enough to respond to the Hardball allegations and insinuations in the selection of Akpoyibo, along with other officers, for the SEC 33/2011 programme at NIPSS.

The authorities are equally capable of reacting to the political undertones suggested in the posting of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police.

Yet, even without stating so, the claim by the column that NIPSS has become “a graveyard for promising careers” is an innuendo that is easily linked to the case, three years ago, when Nuhu Ribadu, the erstwhile Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was sent by the police high command to attend the SEC 30/2008 programme. As I indicated above, there is no proof in the column of how NIPSS has become a Siberia of sorts.

Even then, one can infer that Hardball makes the assumption that in the past, nominations to NIPSS had nobler purposes of qualitative improvement by way of refresher training for qualified persons, but that this has changed. Hence, the column asserted that the Institute “has become a graveyard for some promising careers and avenue for settling scores”.

On the contrary, the facts do not buttress that misleading claim. As is well known, the military, paramilitary, civil service and other establishments nominate participants to attend the SEC programme. In the case of the police, whether nominations to NIPSS have become an avenue for settling scores or for scuttling careers can be ascertained by an examination of the fate of officers who have participated in the programme lately.

Indeed, the last three Inspectors General of Police attended the SEC programme at NIPSS. Both former IG Mike Okiro and his successor Ogbonnaya Onovo were mates in SEC 25/2003, while incumbent IG Hafiz Ringim attended the SEC 29/2007. Besides, Mrs Uche Ivy Okoronkwo, now a Deputy Inspector General of Police, attended SEC 27/2005 while she was a Commissioner of Police. Israel Ajao, a DIG in charge of Force CID Department was in SEC 28/2006, while Declan Uzoma, another DIG, attended SEC 29/2007.

Of course, much earlier, the current Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu, was a participant in SEC 22/2000, while he held the rank of an Assistant Inspector General of Police. The examples are numerous, because each year, the police high command nominates qualified officers to attend the course at NIPSS. In none of these other cases is there uproar that a promising career is being throttled.

That much should be evident from the examples cited above, and more, that neither has participation in NIPSS SEC programme become a Siberia, nor has it become a fast-track to extinguishing a flourishing career.

To a large extent, the attempt to disparage NIPSS derives from ignorance about the functions, accomplishments and prospects of such a vital institution in our national life.

The Institute was established by law in 1979, to serve as a high level centre of reflection, research and dialogue where distinguished academics, policy makers and executors and other citizens of practical experience and wisdom, drawn from different sectors in Nigeria, would meet to reflect and exchange ideas on the great issues of society, especially as they relate to Nigeria and Africa, in the context of a dynamic global environment.

Mr. Jani IBRAHIMis President of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI).