The Police Service Commission has announced that junior police officers with law degrees or other credentials in other fields will soon be given consideration for promotion.
When he hosted the leadership of the Nigerian Unity Bar Association, Abuja branch, in his office, PSC Chairman Dr. Solomon Arase made the commitment.
This was said in a statement released on Sunday by the commission’s spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani.
Arase predicted that soon, the ranks of qualified solicitors who work for the Nigerian Police Force and testify in court as Corporals, Sergeants, and Inspectors would be raised.
He added that the cases of other policemen who acquired additional qualifications while in service will also receive attention while noting that this would give the affected policemen the required self-confidence to perform better.
“The commission may decide to send these categories of police lawyers and other junior policemen with additional qualifications on a short service training, after which they would be properly placed as officers.
“The Nigerian police need the services of more lawyers. The commission will come up with a win-win situation for all parties,” Arase assured while calling on the Nigerian Bar Association to advise practising lawyers to stop criminalising civil matters.
He said “It is wrong and should be discouraged, civil matters should be treated as civil matters and arbitration should serve the parties and the society better.
“We should avoid time wasting in criminalising civil matters and sending them to the police when it can be better handled outside of the force,”
In order to make sure that the Police Complaints Response Unit responds to public complaints in a timely manner, the PSC chairman noted that the commission had established a Compliance Monitoring Unit.
He stressed that the commission will moving forward ensure that it prohibits a system that does not promptly respond to public concerns, noting that the new unit will be directly under his control for efficacy and efficiency.
Ani added, “The Chairman of Unity Bar of NBA, Abuja, Mr Afam Okeke, had earlier congratulated the PSC Chairman on his appointment and pledged the union’s support.
“Okeke, however, complained that lawyers who came into the force as junior officers but improved their qualifications, were currently appearing and defending cases in courts for the NPF, but still wearing junior ranks.”
