TheCable

Musiliu Smith, the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), has asked indigenes of the south-west region to be more interested in joining the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

The police had, in November 2021, announced openings for the recruitment of constables.

The deadline for application was, however, extended till January 22 in order to allow more persons from the southern region apply.

According to a statement by Frank Mba, police spokesperson, “the extension of the online application is informed by the need to ensure equal opportunity and even spread of applications, particularly from States in the South-East, South-South geopolitical zones and Lagos State, to enable them meet up with the required quota for their respective areas”.

“A statistical analysis shows that a total of 81,005 applications were received nationwide as at January 7, 2022. Out of this figure, only 1,404 applications – less than 2% of the total applications – were received from the five States in the South East and 261 from Lagos State, with Anambra State having the least figure of 158 applicants,” Mba had said.

Speaking on Wednesday in Ibadan, the Oyo capital, at a one-day sensitisation programme on police recruitment, Smith said there will be a problem for the south-west if people from the zone don’t show more interest in applying for police jobs.

“If you don’t have people to replace those officers that are retiring or dead, maybe as a result of insecurity or natural death, if we don’t make adequate preparations for those people, our zone will have a problem,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“If we don’t have our sons and daughters participating in the recruitment, it is not good for any geopolitical zone of the country.

“That is why we are going round to appeal to stakeholders. Don’t let us create problems for future generations and Nigeria as a whole.”

On his part, Abdulrasheed Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo, asked the PSC to involve traditional rulers in police recruitment in a bid to prevent criminals from joining the force.

Akanbi also called for the increment of police minimum wage to N100,000 to discourage solicitation for bribes and motivate others to join the force.