The Nigerian Police has been accused of smuggling 925 names of persons into the list of 10,000 Constables recruited by the force last year. 

The Police Service Commission (PSC) added that the 925 persons neither applied for the job nor went through screening, aptitude test and medical examinations.

 The PSC said this on Tuesday while refuting allegations that it was withholding payment to some Constables recruited last year. A statement by its spokesman Ikechukwu Ani said all properly recruited constables had been screened while their appointment letters had also been released, enrolling them into the Integrated Pay-Roll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for approval of the payment of their salaries and allowances. 

“The commission wishes to clarify that it had to bend backwards to accommodate the list of these candidates, even after the Court of Appeal gave judgment in favour of the commission, nullifying the hijack of the recruitment exercise by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).“The Appeal Court judgment, which is still subsisting, had declared the exercise null and void and returned the Constitutional powers of the commission to recruit all persons into the NPF.”“It is also necessary to clarify that in the cause of screening of the list of the 10,000 successful candidates, the commission discovered that 925 persons never applied for recruitment and did not go through the stages and processes of recruitment. These included screening, aptitude test and medical examinations.

“The commission, however, in the overall interest of the nation and considering that resources had been expended in the training of these candidates and that these candidates had been exposed to weapon and weaponry decided to rescreen them.“These candidates already rescreened, except those found to be criminally minded (with mutilated certificates) are expected to be absorbed into the Force.

“The commission is expected to approve their recruitment at its next Plenary Meeting holding next week after which they will receive letters of appointment and subsequently captured by IPPIS,” he said.