Panic as police reject PSC’s recruitment list

The Nigerian Police Force has raised concerns and alerted the public about suspected irregularities and corrupt practices that may have compromised the integrity of the recently published list of successful candidates for the ongoing 2022/23 police constables recruitment exercise.

This move follows a surge of complaints from unsuccessful candidates and stakeholders, who raised concerns about the exclusion of names of individuals who had cleared all previous stages of the recruitment process, only to be omitted from the final list.

Recall that the Police Service Commission (PSC) had approved and released the list of 10,000 successful applicants for recruitment into the Constable cadre of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

The PSC spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani, while confirming this, said, “the Commission on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 received the report of the Police Recruitment Board. 9,000 applicants were approved for recruitment for General Duty while 1,000 applicants were recruited for the Specialists cadre

However, in a press statement on Saturday, Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, stated that scrutiny of the published list revealed several anomalies.

“Several names of persons purported to be names of successful candidates are those who did not even apply and therefore did not take part in the recruitment exercise,” he said.

Adejobi added that the list also contained names of candidates who had failed either the Computer Based Test or the physical screening, as well as those disqualified after being found medically unfit.

“Most worrisome is the allegation of financial dealings and corrupt practices leading to the outcome where unqualified and untrainable individuals have been shortlisted,” he stated.

The police spokesman disclosed that the Inspector General of Police, IGP Olukayode Egbetokun, had on June 10 written to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission objecting to the list and citing the irregularities discovered.

“The reaction of the IGP was without prejudice to the power of the commission to recruit for the police as ruled by the Supreme court but this power does not include the power to recruit unqualified and untrained individuals for the police,” Adejobi stated.

He added, “Noting that it is the police that bears the brunt of recruitment of unqualified individuals and not the PSC. The same people who recruited anyhow for the police today will turn round to accuse the police tomorrow of inefficiency when their recruits start messing up.”

Adejobi disclosed that the police have dissociated themselves from the published list and called for a transparent and credible review of the process to recruit “qualified, competent, trainable and productive hands into the Nigeria Police Force, in line with the vision of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led administration on police reform.”

He also guaranteed that the police are committed to a thorough examination of the process, ensuring its success and fruitfulness, which will ultimately lead to improvements within the force and the country.