The Police Service Commission said in Abuja on Thursday that Nigeria Police lost 12,000 officers between 2013 resulting from death, dismissal, desertion and or retirement.
The Chairman of the commission, Mr Mike Okiro, who made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria, said in spite of this, there had not been recruitment into the force during the period.
“In the last two years, the police lost 12,000 personnel as of the last count,’’ he said.
He contended that internal security would be adversely affected by 2016 if there was no recruitment into the police.
“By this time next year, if we don’t recruit, the possibility of police providing adequate internal security will be called to question,’’ he said.
Okiro added that on assumption of office as chairman of the commission, his request to government to recruit men into the force was turned down.
The former Inspector General of Police stated, “In June 2013, when I assumed office, I wrote a memo to government that we needed to recruit police officers, especially as election was coming up in 2015, but it was turned down.
“In that memo, I recommended 1,000 officers from every state and 500 from the FCT, making it 36,500. The number of police personnel is dwindling daily in terms of strength.”
Okiro warned that if no recruitment was carried out in the next six months or one year, all constables would have been promoted to the rank of corporal.
He pointed out that Nigeria, with a population of about 160 million people, was far behind the United Nations’ standard of one police officer to 400 persons.
“With a population of about 160 million, the Nigeria police personnel is about 300,000,” he said.
The PSC chairman noted that police training schools across the country were in dilapidated state due to inactivity.
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