Dr Shettima Abba, the Acting Executive Chairman, Federal Character Commission (FCC), has charged the Nigeria Police Force to adhere to the Federal Character Principle of fairness in its ongoing nationwide recruitment.

According to a statement issued by Mr Abdullahi Idris, Head of Media of the commission, Abba gave the charge when the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mr Mike Okiro, visited him.

The visit, the statement said, was to discuss the modalities for the recruitment of 10,000 police officers into the force as recently directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Abba maintained that the Federal Character Principle should be adhered to in the recruitment process without compromising merit.

This, he said, would go a long way in making the exercise transparent while meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.

He stated that adhering to basic standards would make the process easy and credible.

The acting executive chairman asked the Police Service Commission to specifically take note of states like Bayelsa and Ebonyi in the South-South and North East zones.

According to him, the states are not adequately represented in the current analyses of the nominal roll of the police force.

He, therefore, enjoined the commission to ensure equity and justice during the recruitment.

He gave assurance that FCC would perform its constitutional role by ensuring proper monitoring and enforcement during the exercise.

The statement, however, attributed the lopsidedness in the police nominal roll, especially in the North East zone, to acts of insurgency in the area.

It said that the FCC Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs noted that the insurgency forced many officers to abandon their jobs while several others were killed by the terrorists.

It further Okiro as saying that all the 774 local government areas in the country would be represented in the exercise.

Okiro, it said, also assured that all the states that were grossly underrepresented in the police force nominal roll over the years, would be considered while the lopsidedness was corrected.

“It will no longer be business as usual as machinery has been put in place by the commission to strictly scrutinise applicants on issues such as age, certificates and local government identification.

“Anybody with past records of criminal tendency would not be considered for the exercise.

“Though there would be proper spread of all categories of vacancy declared, no single unqualified person would be employed in the recruitment,” the statement quoted Okiro as saying. (NAN)

•Photo shows FCC Acting Executive Chairman, Dr Shettima Abba.