The Committee of Retired Inspectors-General of Police has advocated 65 years as retirement age and 40 years as tenure of service for Police personnel.
This is part of the resolutions of the former IGs at the end of their two-day retreat, themed “Intervention of former I-Gs for strategic contribution to effective policing in Nigeria”, held at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The retreat gave the retired IGPs an avenue to discuss and share experiences for effective management of internal security in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that they brainstormed on Reforms and Policy Matters; Recruitment and Deployment of Police Personnel; Safety and Welfare; Strategic Partnership; Training and Capacity Development; Police Operations; and Police Operations.
According to the communique issued at the end of the meeting, there is a need for a re-evaluation of retirement age and tenure of service.
“This should be by extending the retirement age from 60 to 65 years and tenure of service from 35 to 40 years, whichever comes first.”
The committee also recommended that Divisional Police Headquarters across the country, which they observed were usually understaffed and under-equipped, should be adequately staffed.
“They should be provided with appropriate law enforcement equipment to enable them to discharge their statutory duties effectively.”
It added that, in view of the shortfall in manpower, there is an urgent need to upgrade junior police officers with higher educational qualifications.
“They should be moved to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) to reflect the personal and carriage of their qualifications.”
The committee further urged for recruitment into the Nigeria Police to be institutionalized and captured in NPF’s annual budget proposals so as to halt intermittent requests for approval.
It added that NPF should re-evaluate the large number of Police personnel usually attached to those regarded as Very Important Persons (VIPs) and politicians.
The retired IGs explained that this is to allow for wider coverage of the personnel in the Force core area of policing.
They also urged that relying on extant provisions of the Constitution and Establishment Act, the NPF should be restored to be effectively in charge of internal security management.
“This is to avoid needless usurpation of Police’s statutory functions.”
On the safety and welfare of the Police, the committee called on the Federal Government to give the NPF funding priority in the face of competing demands.
They also recommended that NPF should foster inter-agency collaboration with other sister agencies through joint training programs and intelligence-sharing.
“Having noted the level of sophistication with which modern crimes are perpetrated, the Federal Government should support NPF in its quest to continually upgrade assets in logistics and intelligence-sharing technology with its strategic partners.
“As a matter of urgency, the IGP should commission the take-off of the Police Intelligence School in Share, Kwara.
“We note that all NPF training institutions are in a state of disrepair, a state of emergency should therefore be declared in this regard.
“The curriculum of the training institutions should be reviewed to incorporate contemporary security challenges and policing realities.
“NPF should further improve on the welfare of training staff and trainees in the institutions in order to have value addition as envisaged for different training programs.
“NPF should build capacity of personnel by promoting digital literacy initiatives to enhance professionalism,” the committee recommended.
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