Paragraph 30 of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution:
“The Commission shall have power to –
(a) Appoint persons to offices (other than office of the Inspector-General of Police) in the Nigeria Police Force; and
(b) Dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons holding any office referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph.”
Section 6 of the Police Service Commission (Establishment) Act, 2001, which states:
“6 (1) The Commission shall:
(a) be responsible for the appointment and promotion of persons to offices (other than the office of the Inspector-General of Police) in the Nigeria Police Force;
(b) dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons (other than the Inspector-General of Police) in the Nigeria Police Force.
(2) The Commission shall not be subject to the direction, control or supervision of any other authority or person in the performance of its functions other than as is prescribed in this Act.”
Section 18 of the Police Act, 2020, which provides:
“18 (1) The responsibility for the recruitment of recruit constables into the Nigeria Police Force and recruit cadets into the Nigeria Police Academy shall be the duty of the Inspector-General of Police.
(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), there shall be the Nigeria Police Recruitment Committee is responsible for the recruitment of recruit constables into the Nigeria Police Force.”
Regulation 71 of Nigeria Police Regulations 1968, which states:
“71. Subject to any necessary delegation of powers by the Nigeria Police Council and subject to the control of the Inspector-General, the officers responsible for the enlistment of recruit constables to the Force shall be:
(a) The Commandant, Police College Ikeja hereinafter called the Recruitment Officer, South, in respect of candidates from the Southern States; and
(b) The Commandant, the Police College Kaduna hereinafter called the Recruitment Officer, North, in respect of candidates from the Northern States.”
In determining who has power to appoint to offices in Nigeria Police Force except to office of Inspector General of Police, the Supreme Court held as follows:
“The powers to appoint constables into the Nigeria Police Force that was hitherto conferred by Regulation 71 of the Nigeria Police Regulations 1968 on the Commandant of the respective Police Colleges (albeit under the control of the Inspector General of Police) has now been conferred on the Police Service Commission (the 1st respondent) which has more wider powers to appoint not only constables, but other officers of the Nigeria Police Force (except the Inspector General of Police) by virtue of paragraph 30 of part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and section 6(1)(a) of the Police Service Commission (Establishment) Act, 2001.
“ Similarly, the power of appointment hitherto conferred on the Nigeria Police Council under section 9(2)(b) of the Police Act, Cap. 359, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 and which was delegated to the Commandants of the respective Police Colleges (the recruitment officers) by virtue of Regulation 71 of the Nigeria Police Regulations, 1968, can only be exercised by the Police Services Commission (the 1st respondent) in view of the provisions of paragraph 30 of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution and section 6 of the Police Service Commission (Establishment) Act, 2001.”
Until there is a further amendment of the Constitution and all other laws regulating the police, the law as it is in Nigeria today is that the PSC is the institution empowered to undertake the recruitment of all police officers, including police constables, except the IGP. The ball is in the court of the President, and he should kick it in the right direction.
Several heads of the PSC have lost their jobs to this unending dispute and it will not end until there is a definite action from the President. The President is the head of the Nigeria Police Council, the President appoints the IGP who reports to him and the President also appoints the chairman of the PSC.
The President should set up a Committee to harmonise the various issues agitating the parties to this conflict and implement a solution that is in accordance with the law and the decided case on the point. The current situation whereby the IGP and the PSC are throwing missiles against each other in the open and without restraint, will not augur well for the nation. It will embolden criminals and leave the rank and file demoralsed.
As it is usual with every conflict of this nature, police officers who are deemed to be sympathetic to one faction against the other will suffer persecution while two giants fight. The fact that the exit of many heads of the PSC has not resolved the dispute should be a pointer to the fact that it is entrenched and institutional. It should not be allowed to fester.
Concluded.
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
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