Evelyn Usman
2 December 2008
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has called for the immediate re-instatement of 10,000 policemen of various ranks who were dismissed from the Police Force before it (PSC) fully came on board April this year, describing the dismissal as illegal.
Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Parry Osanyande , while addressing officers at the Zone II command, Onikan Lagos, comprising Lagos and Ogun states, yesterday, said the Force lacked the locus standing to dismiss policemen, except the commission gave its nod of approval.
This is just as the commission threatened to ban any Commissioner of Police under whose jurisdiction cases of extra judicial killings are reported, from handling any other command until such officer retires.
To get the record straight, Osayande disclosed that the commission had set up a unit that would take record of cases in all states police commands with a view to checking reports of extra judicial killing.
"At the end of every year, any state found to commit extra judicial killing, the CP will be banned from holding any command . The most important value is human life and you cannot just snuff life out of one anyhow. If it happens to your children will you like it?, he asked all present, adding that "We are serious about this, so cases must be investigated throughly"
The Commission's chairman who stated that the Nigeria Police had been grooming in the dark for 29 years owing to military rule, attributed the cause to what he described as not only a period when the Nigeria Police Force wandered aimlessly like a sheep without a Shepard but one with leadership failure.
He therefore assured of the commission's resolve to reposition the Nigeria police and bring it to an enviable standard. He was however quick to explain that change as it were, must undergo some unfavourable conditions, thereby handed down a directive that henceforth promotion would be tied to courses and any policeman who failed twice would risk being shown out of the force.
This he pointed out, would not only put a check to mass promotion which he said usually breed hatred and envy among policemen especially when a junior rank is promoted above his senior.
"We will tie promotion to courses, if you fail once, you will be given an opportunity to write the promotion course again but if you fail twice, you will be force to retire. This is to put in place a formidable and enviable police because we want responsive policemen.
Our mission is to reposition the Police so that the bad ones will leave and anyone who wants to change will remain", warning that on no ground should anyone lobby either senior policemen or public holders to get promoted as such person when caught would be handed over to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission(ICPC).
By next year, he said a data base that would capture details of every policeman would be established to check situation where deceased policemen were still being promoted thereby leaving the living to wallow in self consolation and bitterness.
Reeling out the commission's mandate, part of which are to oversee, discipline and the general warefare of the Police, he assured that not too long from now, policemen would enjoy a better living standard, whereby a constable would earn as much as N50 .000 as against N28 Thousand at the moment, adding that then, the present and past state of the Nigeria Police would history.
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