Nigerian Police To Recruit 30,000 Officers
Ibrahim Gaidam, the minister of police affairs, says President Bola Tinubu has approved the recruitment of 30,000 police officers annually for the next six years.
Gaidam spoke on Saturday when he visited the Nigeria Police Academy in Wudil, Kano state, during the screening exercise of recruits.
The police minister said the federal government is committed to transparently recruiting more police officers.
Gaidam said the annual recruitment of police officers is part of the government’s commitment to ensuring Nigeria has enough personnel to address the prevailing insecurity.
“The number of police being recruited, 10,000, is not enough to cover all the states, so the president has given approval for the recruitment of 30,000 policemen annually for the next five to six years,” he said.
“I believe if this is done, by the end of the year, we should be able to get enough number of policemen to take care of our security challenges in this country.”
In August 2023, Kayode Egbetokun, the inspector-general of police (IGP), said Nigeria must recruit an additional 190,000 officers to secure the country adequately.
Nigeria’s current police strength is just over 370,000 officers, which is insufficient based on a ratio of one officer to about 600 citizens.
The UN-recommended ratio is one police officer to almost 450 citizens.
