The Police Service Commission (PSC), at its 21st plenary meeting, which was held at its corporate headquarters in Jabi, Abuja, has approved new policy guidelines for the deployment of management and tactical commanders in the Nigeria Police Force.
Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations, said in a statement on Sunday, that the commission urged the Nigeria Police Force to be guided by the principle of federal character in both recruitment (at all levels) and deployment of its personnel at management and tactical levels to ensure balance, equity, and fairness in the system.
PSC observed that the current deployment of commissioners of police to state commands leaves much to be desired in reflecting the principle of equity and fairness to all geo-political zones of the country, stressing that the current statistics of such deployments were against the North East and South East geopolitical zones.
The commission observed the disproportional distribution and lopsided deployment of command commissioners and noted that it has become extremely important that a fair representation of all geo-political zones is always reflected in these deployments to eschew and address the feeling of marginalisation and injustice against certain zones of the country in the Nigeria Police Force.
In its plenary, the commission dwelt on sections 6(e) and (7) of the Police Service Commission Act, which empowers it to ‘formulate and implement policies aimed at efficiency and discipline in the Nigeria Police Force.
PSC requested henceforth that the deployment of commissioners of police to state commands must ensure that the disadvantaged zones are considered first in the proposals to the commission.
“This is to redress the present imbalance and lopsided deployments skewed against the North-East and South-East regions of the country.
“All geo-political zones of the country must now have at least 15 per cent representation in the deployment of Assistant Inspectors-General of Police to zones, Commissioners of Police to state commands and posting of commanding officers of Police Mobile Force, Counter-Terrorism Units (CTU), and Special Protection Unit (SPU)” the statement affirmed.
It said also that all police deployments to zones and commands at both management (Deputy Commissioners of Police and Assistant Commissioners of Police) and tactical levels (Commanding Officers of PMF/SPU/CTU) must recognise heterogeneity and reflect fairness and equity in terms of ethnicity and religion.
While advising the Inspector General of Police to be guided appropriately by this policy guideline, PSC noted: ” It is also geared towards eliciting trust and confidence of the Nigerian people and taking ownership of their police in showing greater understanding, cooperation, and support to the NPF towards improved community safety and adequate internal security in Nigeria.
“The Commission, on its policy on the imperativeness of gender-sensitivity in the deployment of AIGs and CPs, noted the continued practice of lopsided deployments of only male police officers to zones and commands with no fair consideration and representation of female police officers who are qualified for such positions.”
