The Police Service Commission, PSC, has confirmed that the training for the successful candidates of the police constable recruitment exercise will begin on August 10. This was disclosed in a statement by Ikechukwu Ani, the PSC spokesperson, on Monday.
The Police Recruitment Board finally approved the commencement date for training, and Ani charged all successful candidates to check their status and acquire information about training processes through the recommended channel.
The selection committee considers that the candidates selected for the specialist cadre will start their training two months after their peers in the general duty. Details of the initiation program for specialist cadre candidates will be announced later.
“The Police Service Commission appreciates the patience and understanding of the applicants while efforts had to be made to ensure that the exercise was inclusive and generally acceptable.”.
He reiterated the fact that PSC is irrevocably committed to ensuring recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force based on merit and in consonance with the federal character principle. The Commission also urged successful candidates to consider their offer as a call to duty for the nation, saying that their training would be closely monitored to ensure adequate preparation towards tackling the security challenges of the nation.
This comes after a controversial June: the Nigeria Police Force rejected the list of successful candidates for the Constable Recruitment Exercise over alleged corruption and irregularities. It claimed the portal of the PSC contains names of persons who did not apply or participate in the exercise.
It challenged the police to come up with evidence over the alleged corruption and accused the NPF of a deliberate attempt to take over the constitutional responsibility of the commission to recruit police officers on its part.
Despite these challenges, the PSC is forging ahead with the training schedule to inject new blood into the Nigeria Police Force, with a view to recruiting only persons of merit and those found to be with clean records of integrity.