The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre has condemned the suspension of entry requirements for applicants willing to join the Nigeria Police Force as constables.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had earlier in a signal dated August 24 directed that no candidate should be disqualified irrespective of their physical appearance, age and qualification.
But RULAAC in a statement on Wednesday said such action would open doors for criminals, bandits and terrorists to be recruited into the police.
The statement reads, “The suspension of entry requirements as stipulated in the police regulation at this time in our national history when unemployment rate has jumped to 27.1%; and when bad governance has produced many criminals in the system- will open the room wider for marauding terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and criminals of all hue to more easily find their way into the police and the citizens will be the worse for it.
“Since some of the recruits do not possess the minimum educational qualifications, they can neither read nor write, nor can they cope with the mental rigours of basic police training at police colleges. They are unable to comprehend simple concepts of human rights and human relations.
“Unfortunately, it is mainly police personnel from this category that come in regular contact with the ordinary citizens on a day to day basis and who are deployed to carry out law enforcement duties including arrests and public order policing. It is for this reason that they deploy reckless and disproportionate force, and easily open fire at unarmed protesters as their first response to public disorder.”
Meanwhile, the police boss has denied directing that entry requirements be shelved, saying no IGP had the power to do so.
Adamu in a statement on Tuesday said that all screening officers were directed to allow all applicants participate in the exercise by using established benchmarks contained in the Police Act.
