The PSC had in an advert in national newspapers announced the portal for the recruitment of this year's constables.
The legal tussle between the Nigeria Police Force (NOF) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) has stalled the 2022 recruitment of police constables and is negatively affecting the security architecture of the country.
The PSC had in an advert in national newspapers announced the portal for the recruitment of this year's constables, but the NPF in a counter statement asked Nigerians to disregard the recruitment advert.
Countering the PSC's recruitment advert, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement on Monday said that the advert had no connection with the NPF, adding that it was not in line with the police recruitment process.
But though the PSC did not immediately respond to the IGP’s protest against the PSC's recruitment advert, the spokesman of the Commission, Ikechukwu Ani, confirmed that there are differences between the NPF and PSC.
Daily Trust quoted Ani as saying that “The Police Service Commission notes the publication of the Nigeria Police Force with regard to the 2022 constable recruitment exercise. The commission wishes to state that all contending issues around the exercise will be resolved between the two parties in the interest of the country.
“All interested applicants and other Nigerians desirous of a career in the Nigeria Police Force should exercise patience while these issues are being resolved. The commission will continue to strive to give Nigerians a Police Force they will be proud of.”
Meanwhile, checks by Daily Trust show that since President Muhammadu Buhari gave approval for recruitment of 60,000 police constables (10,000 each year), only 10,000 men have been recruited in the last four years. This is against the 40,000 officers who are supposed to have been enlisted into the Force.
It was gathered that the disagreement between the NPF and PSC stalled the recruitment exercise from 2019 until 2021 when the issue was partially resolved.
The NPF and the PSC have laid claims to their constitutional powers to conduct recruitment for the police.
Following the tussle, the commission filed a suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja but the suit was dismissed in December 2019 for lack of merit.
The office of the Attorney General of the Federation then pleaded with the court not to nullify the recruitment exercise as it had gone through significant stages with millions of naira already spent in the process.
In the application filed by the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Dayo Apata (SAN), the AGF argued that recruitment was not stated by the Nigerian Constitution as one of the functions of the PSC.
According to the AGF, the provision of Section 153(1)(m), (2) and Section 215(1)(b) and Paragraph 3 Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution 1999 as well as sections 6 and 24 of the Police Service Commission Act, “the Police Service Commission is sole statutory body exclusively empowered and responsible for the appointment, promotion, dismissal and exercise of disciplinary control over persons holding or aspiring to hold officers in the Nigeria Police Force except the Inspector General of Police.”
But after losing at the High Court, the commission appealed the judgment and in 2020, the Appeal Court in Abuja granted its prayers and nullified the recruitment of 10,000 police constables. The appeal court held that the Police Act relied on by the IGP “is null and void being in conflict with the constitutional powers vested in the Police Service Commission.”
Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, one of the three justices of the court, in his concurrent judgement, ruled that Paragraph 30 of part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 constitution gives the power to the commission to appoint persons into offices in the Nigeria Police “and does not exclude constables and cadets to the Nigeria Police Academy.”
But the then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court in October 2020.
The IGP through Counsel to the NPF, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), contended that the Court of Appeal “erred in law when it held that the provision of Section 71 of the Nigeria Police Regulations 1968 made pursuant to Section 46 of the Police Act is inconsistent with the provision of paragraph 30 Part I of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.”
However, the appeal was stalled following the police filing its brief out of time.
The NPF subsequently regularised its filings in June 2022, with the appellant brief served on the respondents.
But amid the recruitment tussle, the PSC workers’ union has reportedly resolved to begin an indefinite strike on August 29 over their demands.
It was gathered that the union said that all the conditions necessary for a continuous working harmony had been breached by its management, saying it won’t back down this time around if the agreements were not met.
Recall that the PSC workers in January this year declared a three-day warning strike over the alleged takeover of the recruitment of 10,000 constables by the police and lack of staff promotion and training by the commission management.
The worker made the planned strike action known in a letter addressed to the commission’s chairman, Musiliu Smith.
But the spokesman of the PSC, Ani, has refused to comment on the indefinite strike notice issued by the workers of the commission.