Recruitment: Nigeria needs mentally mobile police officers, says Arase

• Says there was a need for a paradigm shift in the recruitment of Nigerian youths into the police

The Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr Solomon Arase, says Nigeria needs the right police officers with ”mental mobility and fertile minds” to relate effectively with the public.

This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen by the Head of Press and Public Relations of PSC, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to Ani, Arase spoke when he paid a courtesy visit to the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede.

Arase said the focus of discussion during the visit was on the process of engaging JAMB to conduct computer-based tests for applicants seeking employment in the Constable Cadre of the Nigeria Police.

He said the police force he joined 42 years ago was knowledge-based, with officers who could relate to the public and engender love and confidence.

The PSC boss said there was a need for a paradigm shift in the recruitment of Nigerian youths into the police.

“If the commission can get 50 per cent high flyers with this recruitment, the progression to a better and more effective police service would have started.

“Mentally mobile policemen will have self-confidence and be capable of discharging their duties creditably,” Arase said.

According to him, going forward, the JAMB computer-based tests will be done first before the screening exercises to weed out those with questionable certificates.

In his remarks, the JAMB registrar commended Arase for the visit and pledged to support the commission in its project to change the narrative of the Nigeria Police for good.

He urged the PSC boss to take note of the peculiarities of the country’s diverse population and get the best for every state and zone in the recruitment process.