The Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Dingyadi, has called on Nigerians to treat as fake news a report trending on social media on the recruitment of 400,000 policemen.
The Press Secretary to the Minister, Osaigbovo Ehisienmen, spoke in a statement on the issue on Thursday in Abuja.
Dingyadi said the report was an act of mischief targeted at misrepresenting the 40,000 recruitment of police constables approved by the Federal Government.
He said the misleading report claimed that the Ministry of Police Affairs was working independently of the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Force to carry out the recruitment exercise.
According to him, the intention was to create platforms to defraud unsuspecting job seekers.
He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the purported 13-man ministerial project coordination committee set up by the ministry to conduct the recruitment process is a figment of the author’s imagination.
“Such committee does not exist in the ministry.
“For purposes of clarity, the recruitment of 40,000 police constables, approved by the Federal Government is being carried out in tranches of 10,000 per batch.”
He added that the first batch was successfully concluded in 2019 and that arrangements had reached an advance stage to conclude the second batch of the process.
The Minister also said the process was being carried out by relevant agencies responsible for the recruitment.
Dingyadi enjoined the public to be circumspect of false recruitment information into the Nigeria Police and treat the purported recruitment of 400,000 policemen in particular as fake news.