PSC Lists Health Conditions Barring Nigerians from Joining Police Force

Linus Aleke in Abuja

The Police Service Commission (PSC) has disclosed that, to enlist in the Nigerian Police Force, a candidate must be free from specific health conditions.

A statement by the Head of Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani, noted that these health conditions include, but are not limited to, mental health disorders, speech impairments, and visual deformities, among several others.

The Chairman of the PSC, Hashimu Argungu (rtd), highlighted these health requirements during the ongoing high-level policing workshop organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with development partners and the governments of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe States, for security personnel in the North-east.

In a keynote address titled “Ethics, Mental Health and the Future of Policing and Security in Nigeria”, the Chairman stated that medical examinations are essential in determining whether a candidate is medically fit to meet the physical demands of the job from the outset.

Argungu stated: “Tests for deformities and abnormalities must be conducted as part of the medical screening process. A candidate must be free from speech impediments, gross dental or jaw deformities that hinder proper mastication of food, knock knees, bowed legs, flat feet, and bent arms.

“Others include deformed hands, defective eyesight or squinting, and any form of amputation.”

He further advised officers to be mindful of stress arising from operational factors such as trauma exposure and dangerous incidents, organisational challenges such as poor management, shift work, and lack of peer support.

Argungu  emphasised that a police officer must, under all circumstances, have a thorough understanding and knowledge of the law, police orders, and instructions. Additionally, officers, he said, must cultivate qualities such as efficiency, courtesy, tact, integrity, and impartiality.

He observed that contemporary threats to the future of policing and security in Nigeria are no longer limited to the conventional challenges such as unemployment, poverty, and out-of-school children.

He stressed the importance of police officers studying ethics and the professional code of conduct, as these form the bedrock of policing principles.