Adelani Adepegba and Ted Odogwu

The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, said on Friday in Kano that his office had forwarded a proposal to the Presidency for the recruitment of 155,000 policemen of different cadres into the force within the next five years.

Speaking with journalists after paying a condolence visit to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, over the death of Dan Masanin Kano, Dr. Maitama Sule, the IG said the idea was to enable the police force to meet up with the United Nations Charter of one police man to 400 people.

He stressed that the proposal had since been presented to the Presidency, “and we are now awaiting approval for us to commence the recruitment of the first batch which is about 31, 000 policemen within the next one year.”

He added, “The decision to recruit the category of officers was informed by the manpower challenge currently facing the police force. For instance, between 2011 and 2015, there had been no recruitment of rank and file in the force.”

Speaking further on the manpower challenge affecting the force, the IGP, who was received by the Secretary to the state government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, stated that the NPF had already approached the National Assembly for the establishment of the Police Trust Fund with a view to addressing the issue of funding of operations.

While describing the late Dan Masanin Kano as an advocate of peace, he said Nigerians should ignore recent threat of secession and quit notice by some groups in the country.

Meanwhile, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, in a statement on Friday, said the IG visited the Kaduna-Abuja Highway to carry out on-the-spot assessment of policemen deployed to curb kidnapping in the area.

Punchng