Police service commission has sole authority to recruit police men— Supreme court
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has said the Supreme Court has ruled in its favour to solely take the responsibility of recruiting officers on the rank of constables for the Nigeria Police Force.
Daily Trust reports that the PSC and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had for over 4 years, engaged in a fierce legal battle on who could be responsible for the recruitment following the approval given by former President Muhammadu Buhari to recruit 10,000 constables each year for six years.
Giving an update on Sunday, the spokesman for the PSC, Ikechukwu Ani, claimed that on July 11, 2023, the apex court in the land decided and laid to rest the contentious issue and controversy between the commission and the police.
According to Ani, in the judgment, the Supreme Court “unequivocally pronounced” the commission as an agency statutorily mandated to do so, quoting the Chairman of PSC, Solomon Arase to have said the judgment was in the interest of national security.
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Daily Trust could not immediately ascertain Ani’s claim, as he said he did not have the Certified True Copies (CTC) of the judgment when our correspondent requested it.
The PSC spokesman, however, explained that before the judgment, efforts were being made to resolve amicably the issue between the two institutions.
Ani added that it was highly embarrassing to the government and indeed other stakeholders for the duo, which ought to work in harmony and mutuality to have engaged in such avoidable legal dispute over an issue that sought understanding, respect and compromise.
He quoted the commission’s boss, Arase, to have said the judgment simply and legally cements the resolution of the issue in a win-win situation for the two institutions, which ordinarily cannot effectively function and deliver on their respective mandates without the cooperation of each other.
