The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriateness, Senator Barau Jibrin, has stated that the committee has been stampeded from going on with the budget ratification of the Nigerian Police Force as a result of the inability of the force to present the accurate numbers of their staff.
This was made known in a meeting of the Senate Committee’s presentation of budget report to the Appropriations Committee.
In his words, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Barau Jibrin said, “The Chairman Senate Committee on Police Affairs confirmed to us yesterday that they do not have a clear record or know how many Police men we have in this country, to that we cannot appropriate a dime to the Nigerian Police Force.”
Another member of the Committee, Senator Abba Moro, addressing the representatives of the Nigerian Police queried the Police on their methods of keeping records.
“This cadets, the moment you recruit them and come for training, they become your staff, why are you adding to the problem? this constables, where are they now, if they are in training, by standard they are already your staff. In the Nigerian Prisons or Immigration, the moment people are selected for training they begin to arrange and capture them for training.” The Senator said.
Responding to the questions poised by the Senators, the Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, said the “recruit are not in the pay roll of the Police, they are students in training, they are only qualified to be in the pay roll of the police once they pass out from training”.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Barau Jibrin, however implored the committee to give the Police more time to come up with the exact figures.
“We should have a situation where we will have all the data of the Nigerian Police Force. let us give them time, if we are to investigate further, all the figures provided to us by the Nigerian Police Force will not be correct, since the Minister has agreed that very soon a computerized system will be made available to capture the entire figures of personnel in the Nigerian Police Force.” He said.
The Committee meeting was later adjourned to Friday 8th November 2019.
