Just In: Police will soon recruit 20,000 officers – IGP

The Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has assured Nigerians that the police will soon commence the recruitment of men from all of the 774 local governments across the country in line with the mandate earlier given by the Federal Government to recruit 10,000 policemen annually for six years to bridge its manpower gap

IGP Alkali, who paid a courtesy visit on Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state at his Agodi Government Secretariat Office, Ibadan, noted that the Force had issues recruiting in 2019 and 2020. He added that all approvals have now been secured to commence the backlog of recruitment amounting to 20,000 men.

Speaking further, the Police Chief said the visit was to go round the 36 states including the FCT to talk to men and officers in the states and request for the cooperation of the chief security officers and the  traditional institutions in the states.

“My vision is part of the engagement I took upon myself, which is to go round the 36 states even in the FCT where I have worked for a very long time, in talking to my men and also visiting the police officers in the states, the traditional institutions and other stakeholders.

“This is because I know they are in control of maintaining law and order, the same thing that requires collaboration, synergy and cooperation.

“I want to talk to other stakeholders on the issue of community policing, which is an adopted strategy. It has not been effectively used by both the government and members of the public and we have two versions of it. We have embarked on it and my predecessor has done much in looking into policing programmes. And I need to continue from where he stopped, by getting people and your continuous support.

“It is believed that it is a programme that we can use people of a community who know their counter value in policing, who know the nooks and cranny of the place to ensure that law and order are to be abided by the community and control it to the barest minimum”, he said.