PSC Clears 10,000 Constables after Fresh Screening

PSC Clears 10,000 Constables after Fresh Screening

•Says 925 did not apply for recruitment

By Kingsley Nwezeh

The Police Service Commission (PSC) yesterday said it had cleared the 10,000 constables controversially recruited by the Nigerian Police Force for payment of salaries and allowances.

The commission, however, said 925 successful candidates never applied for recruitment and did not go through the stages and processes of recruitment.

It said in a statement that it released appointment letters to the candidates and approved their capturing into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, (IPPIS) for the payment of their salaries and allowances.

The commission added that it bent backwards to accommodate the list of the candidates even after the Court of Appeal gave judgment in favour of the commission nullifying the hijack of the recruitment exercise by the Nigeria Police Force.

The statement, signed by the spokesman of the commission, Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, stated that during the screening of the 10,000 successful candidates, it discovered that 925 of them neither applied for recruitment nor go through the processes of recruitment.

It said: “The Police Service Commission is not withholding the payment of any police constable properly recruited in 2019. The commission has since screened the list of the supposedly successful candidates sent to it by the Office of the Inspector-General of Police.

“The commission wishes to clarify that it had to bend backwards to accommodate the list of these candidates even after the Court of Appeal gave judgment in favour of the commission nullifying the hijack of the recruitment exercise by the Nigeria Police Force.

“The Appeal Court judgment, which is still subsisting, had declared the exercise null and void and returned the constitutional powers of the commission to recruit all persons into the Nigeria Police Force.”

The commission added that the clarification became necessary because “in the cause of screening of the list of the 10,000 successful candidates, the commission discovered that 925 persons never applied for recruitment and did not go through the stages and processes of recruitment.”

“These included screening, aptitude test and medical examinations. The commission, however, in the overall interest of the nation and considering that resources had been expended in the training of these candidates and that these candidates had been exposed to weapon and weaponry, decided to rescreen them.

“These candidates already rescreened, except those found to be criminally minded (with mutilated certificates) are expected to be absorbed into the force,” it added.

According to the PSC, it will approve their recruitment at its next plenary meeting holding next week after which they will receive letters of appointment and subsequently captured by IPPIS.

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