Group condemns manner of picking IG, retirement of officers

The Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria, an organization that acts as watch dog over the activities of the Nigeria Police Force, has condemned the manner in which successive Inspector Generals of Police are picked and the retirement of many officers after the IGP’s emergence.
The National Coordinator of NOPRIN, Okechukwu Nwanguma, made the position of the organisation known in a statement on Monday.
Nwanguma said: “The appointment, on June 21, 2016 of a new Acting Inspector General of Police – Mr. Ibrahim Kpotun Idris – by President Buhari, following the retirement of IGP Solomon Arase, has brought to the fore again, some pending issues which must be resolved urgently.
“First, we need to interrogate again, the propriety of the practice of premature and forceful retirement of a large number of active senior officers of the ranks of Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) and Assistant Inspector General (AIG) just to pave way for the President to appoint a candidate of his choice. The consideration here is often narrow and political, rather than the broad national interest.”
According to Nwanguma, in some cases, the particular officer predetermined to be appointed had to be successively promoted two or more ranks ahead of his mates and seniors within a short span of time, just to position him for the appointment.
He added: “This comes with many grave implications. Resources invested in training, retraining and maintaining all the other officers to be retired, and the professional skills and knowledge they have acquired over the years are wasted. People are forced to compulsorily retire before their due dates or age of retirement. This creates acrimony, low morale, lack of dedication to duty and disloyalty among those left behind in promotion, some of whom may have stagnated in the same rank for as long as 30 years.”
Speaking on the picking IGP, Nwanguma noted that the existing procedure required that the Police Council, composed of the President, State Governors, the IGP and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, would meet periodically and when vacancy existed for the office of the IGP, to consider and recommend a candidate from within the police force for appointment by the President.
But in practice, Nwanguma said successive Presidents sideline the Police Council and unilaterally appoint and can at any time fire the IGP.
He insisted that the office of the IGP was too important and too sensitive to be left alone to the President and his political party to determine or play politics with.
He said in many climes where due process, public safety and security were taken seriously, the appointment procedure for the chief of police was competitive and transparent.
He added: “It allows for public debate and input, and confirmation by the parliament once the president makes the appointment. The removal procedure is also rigorous and often requires at least, 2/3 majority vote by parliament, and for specified misconduct. This is to guarantee operational autonomy and independence, security of tenure and professionalism in the leadership and management of the police. This is what civil society organisations in Nigeria, led by NOPRIN, have been campaigning for since 1999 when Nigeria returned to elected democracy.”