The acting inspector-general of police, IGP Suleiman Abba, has said that the federal government has approved the recruitment of 10,000 Nigerians into the force nationwide.
IGP Abba, who made this disclosure yesterday during his visit to the LEADERSHIP Group headquarters, publishers of Leadership Newspaper, however, said he wished the figure could be increased to 500,000, stressing that the present figure was inadequate.
“I chaired the 2015 election planning committee and I made a recommendation therein, that we should have a certain number of policemen recruited ahead of the election. And we came in and found out that government had approved 10,000 more to be recruited.
“As I speak to you, the funds are getting close into our own hand and the recruitment will begin. So, we are making effort to reach the required number. We wish we could get up to 500,000 but, then, remember that we are not doing it alone. There are other services and the other services are helping us”, he said.
The police chief, who promised violent criminals hard times, disclosed that arrangements were in top gear to resuscitate the Police E-department, an intelligence arm of the force which was carved out of the police during a re-organisation.
“You would have witnessed what happened to the intelligence department of the police. We used to have a very, very effective intelligence department of the police. They call it the E-department. And you all know what happened. In a reorganisation, it was carved out of the police. Since then the police force has been struggling to establish that department”, he said.
The acting IGP urged Nigerians to cultivate the habit of having in their possession, emergency numbers of the control rooms of the police command in their locality, or the telephone numbers of operatives in police stations in their neighborhood.
Reacting to the reports of inadequate funding of the police, Abba noted that though funding for the police was an issue, it was incorrect to say only about 25 per cent of the budgeted funds gets to the police.
I must say thank you to the acting inspector general of police for having the love of his fstherland in trying to release the awaited recruitment of police to fight crime commiters .may God give you more wisdom to serve your fatherland successfully Amen.