As part of the effort to motivate the Nigerian Police to effectively discharge their duties of maintaining law and order, the Salaries and Wages Commission is set to place policemen on a new salary structure.
This is as the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, has disclosed that 18,360 community policing officers (CPOs) have been recruited and trained.
IGP Adamu and the acting Chairman of the National Salaries and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta, made the disclosure at a one-day workshop to sensitise the public on community policing.
Speaking at the workshop, organised in conjunction with Unite Consult LTD and C. O. Luke and Co, Tuesday in Abuja, Nta, who was represented by Secretary to the commission, Engr David Nyikyaa, said all documentation in respect to the improved salary structure for the police have been completed and awaiting submission to the President for approval.
Also, IGP Adamu said the recruitment exercise for the CPOs was conducted in two batches with the first consisting of 9, 478 and the second, 8, 278.
A breakdown according to the states showed that Zamfara has the highest number with 2, 550, which the IGP attributed to the security crisis there, while the FCT, has the least with 96.
Adamu said four states: Anambra, Borno, Kwara, and the Osun States are yet to undertake the recruitment and training, but modalities for the exercise are being perfected with the state governors.
He said the training ran for four weeks and upon completion, the CPOs were kitted with specially branded police uniforms with badges identifying them.
The police boss said most of the states have deployed the CPOs to their statutory duty of complementing the police and their communities in building trust, reassuring the citizens of their safety, and securing and aiding in the maintenance of law and order within their localities.
He said these governors have made commitments to meeting the financial requirements for the recruitment and so far such requests have been received and attended to from Niger, Edo, Lagos, and Nasarawa States.
Adamu, who commended President Muhammadu Buhari for supporting community policing, said it would change the narrative of policing and also strengthen trust and partnership with the citizens.
President Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi, said the processes of perfecting criminal activities and threatening communal peace and national security were deeply entrenched in the communities.
He said, for this reason, it has become expedient that the police and the communities they serve should form a strong synergy and evolve a trust-based partnership framework towards addressing peculiar security challenges in their communities and across the country.
