The Committee of Retired Inspectors-General of Police has advocated 65 years as retirement age and 40 years as tenure of service for Police personnel.
This is part of the resolutions of the former I-Gs at the end of their two-day retreat, held at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, in Ibadan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The resolutions are in the retreat’s seven-point communique issued on Thursday in Ibadan by retired I-G Solomon Arase, Chairman of the Police Service Commission, PSC.
The retreat had the theme “Intervention of former I-Gs for strategic contribution to effective policing in Nigeria”.
The retreat allowed the ex-police heads to brainstorm to reposition the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, for more significant impact, relevance and strategic intervention within the country’s competitive security landscape.
The points outlined are Reforms and Policy Matters, Recruitment and Deployment of Police Personnel, Safety and Welfare, Strategic Partnership, Training and Capacity Development, Police Operations, and Police Operations.
According to the communique, there is a need to re-evaluate retirement age and tenure of service.
”This should be by extending the retirement age from 60 to 65 years and tenure of service from 35 to 40 years, whichever comes first,” the committee noted.
The committee also recommended that divisional police headquarters across the country, which they observed were usually understaffed and under-equipped, should be adequately staffed.
”They should be provided with appropriate law enforcement equipment to enable them to discharge their statutory duties effectively,” they said.
It added that, given the shortfall in human resources, there is an urgent need to upgrade junior police officers with higher educational qualifications.
The committee further urged recruitment into the Nigeria Police to be institutionalised and captured in NPF’s annual budget proposals to halt intermittent requests for approval.
It added that NPF should re-evaluate the large number of Police personnel usually attached to those regarded as Very Important Persons and politicians.
They also urged that relying on extant provisions of the Constitution and Establishment Act, the NPF should be restored to be effectively in charge of internal security management.
