…As Senate demands details of recruitment, promotions

By Inalegwu Shaibu

ABUJA – Chairman, Police Service Commission, Mr. Parry Osayande, has said Nigeria is not yet politically developed to allow the decentralization of the Nigeria Police.

Osayande, in a briefing to Senator Dahiru Kuta-led Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, also said past military regimes were responsible for the dearth of professionalism in the Police.

He said interferences in the administration of the police coupled with poor funding, understaffing and collapse of police infrastructure during military regimes had left the Police in a very bad shape.

He said: “Ideally, we should have state police, even local government police. But right now we are not politically mature. The police, as it today, constitute the tie that binds Nigeria together. You can imagine a situation, an itinerant criminal commits an offence in Lagos and he ran away to Benin and the government in Benin is not in the same party with the government in Lagos, they can even shield them.

“But once we mature politically, you can decentralise the police. Right now, we are not politically mature for that.That is why we must continue; like we have one currency, one military then we should have one police.”

He accused the military of infiltrating the Nigeria Police with unqualified personnel through fraudulent recruitments and promotions, but said the commission was already on salvage mission to restore professionalism in the Police.

The Committee, which was on oversight tour of the Commission to ensure adherence to federal character principles in the recruitment and promotion of Police personnel directed that details of recruitment and promotion exercises be submitted to the Senate by today.

He said: “We want details of the last recruitment by Monday, how many people have been recruited and promoted reflecting the states they come from? We need to know because we have received petitions that some states are lording it over others in terms of recruitment and promotions.”