Abuja – Mr Lawrence Alobi, retired Commissioner of Police, has faulted the use of Local Government Areas (LGAs) for the allocation of slot for the recruitment of constables into the Nigeria Police Force.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved the recruitment of 10,000 police constables to beef-up the strength of the force.
NAN also recalls that Buhari in February approved the recruitment of 6,000 constables into the force.
Alobi told NAN in Abuja on Thursday that the ongoing recruitment should be based on equality adding that every state must have equal slot.
“Each state should be given equal number to avoid a situation where a particular ethnic group will dominate a particular institution and this will not be good for the unity of the country,“ he said.
He said that the use of local government areas to allocate the slot would place some states on a disadvantage position because some have more number than the others.
Alobi alleged that the creation of local government areas by the then military administration was based on personal interests.
“There were no criteria for creating LGAs. The military just came up with it based on their political and ethnic interests to satisfy their personal interest.
“This idea of doing it by LGAs is politically motivated and I think it should be done away with,’’ he said.
The former commissioner said that if the recruitment was done on the basis of state instead of LGAs it would promote unity among Nigerians.
He advised the Police Service Commission to also consider the level of intelligence of applicants during screening, adding that the job of the police officer was not just carrying gun around.
The PSC on Nov. 30 began the process of recruitment of 10,000 constables into the force.
(NAN)
