BY ANDREW OROLUA and Doosur Iwambe
Seeking to restore fairness in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Police Service Commission (PSC) has asked the Force to redress the lopsided deployment of Command Commissioners using a new guideline for deployment of Management and Tactical Commanders.
PSC,in a statement by its spokesman,Ikechukwu Ani, said it observed that the South-East and North-East zones are under-represented in the posting of police management teams and tactical commanders across the country.
The Commission “henceforth requests that deployment of Commissioners of Police to state commands must ensure that the disadvantaged zones are considered first in the proposals to the Commission in order to redress the present imbalance and lopsided deployments skewed against the North-East and South-East regions of the country.”
It stressed that: “all geo-political zones of the country must now have at least 15 per cent representation in the deployment of Assistant Inspectors-General of Police, AIGs, to Zones, Commissioners of Police to State Commands and posting of Commanding Officers of Police Mobile Force, Counter-Terrorism, CTU, and Special Protection Unit, SPU.
“That all Police deployments to zones and Commands at both Management (Deputy Commissioners of Police and Assistant Commissioners of Police) and Tactical levels (Commanding Officers of PMF/SPU/CTU) must recognise our heterogeneity and reflect fairness and equity in terms of ethnicity and religion.”
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The Commission advised the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to be guided appropriately by these policy guidelines founded on principles of fairness and justice to all members of the NPF.
The body explained that these are also geared towards eliciting trust and confidence of the Nigerian people and taking ownership of their Police in showing greater understanding, cooperation and support to the NPF toward improved community safety and adequate internal security in Nigeria.
It added: “The Commission on its Policy on imperativeness of gender-sensitivity in the deployment of AIGs and CPs, noted the continued practice of lopsided deployments of only male police officers to zones and commands with no fair consideration and representation of female Police Officers who are qualified for such positions.
“The Commission also considered and approved that at least three state Commands out of the 37 Commands must have female Police Officers as their Commissioners of Police and out of the 17 Zonal Headquarters, at least one Zone must have a female AIG to head the zone”.
PSC said it became necessary to redress Nigeria Police’s current deployment of Commissioners of Police to state Commands which was against the country’s federal character, especially as it affects the South-East and North-East zones.
“The postings of top police officers to states and other tactical commands leaves much to be desired in reflecting the principle of equity and fairness to all geo-political zones of the country.’
The Commission said that it considered and approved the Policy guidelines at its 21st Plenary Meeting which held at its corporate headquarters in Jabi, Abuja on Thursday, June 15, 2023 and presided over by its Chairman and retired Inspector General of Police, IGP, Dr. Solomon Arase.
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