Inspector-General of Police, has said that the
Nigeria Police Force needs additional 155,000 officers to adequately
provide security for the country.
Ibrahim Idris was speaking at a two-day National Security Summit in Abuja on
Thursday, saying that to achieve this, the force needs to recruit 31,000
cadets annually for five years.
The theme of the summit is ”Forging Partnership for Effective
Strategies to Curb the Menace of Kidnapping, Recurring Farmers-Herders
Clashes and Criminality in Nigeria.”
He said, “To attain the UN ratio requirement of one police officer to
400 citizens of a country, the Nigeria Police Force needs to recruit
155,000 to police Nigerian population of approximately 182 million.”
According to the IGP, the police had not carried out any recruitment
into its rank and file cadre since 2011 until 2016 when the recruitment
of 10,000 applicants was approved by the Federal Government.
Idris said the proposal to recruit more Nigerians into the force had been forwarded to the Federal Government for consideration.
He said, “Over the years, the Nigeria Police Force saddled with the
responsibility of policing the country, has been grappling with
fundamental challenges which tend to impede its performance.”
He also said that the Nigeria Police Force Reform Trust Fund bill
before the National Assembly since 2008 had yet to be passed and called
on the National Assembly to expeditiously pass the bill to address the
challenge of funding for the police.
He added, “We solicit the support and understanding of the National
Assembly to give an accelerated hearing to this bill to adequately
position the police for better funding and performance.”