Ibrahim stated this yesterday during a briefing at the National Assembly Complex, explaining that while the Senate wants the recruitment to be based on nine persons per local government, the PSC prefers that each state be given an opportunity to present equal number of persons.
The commission had in March this year begun the recruitment of 10,000 personnel into the NPF after Buhari had in 2015 approved the recruitment of 10,000 policemen at the National Security Summit in Abuja.
Ibrahim explained that the position of the Senate was informed by the need to ensure that more policemen are recruited from states with higher population, pointing out that even the policy of community policing would be better enhanced if policemen are recruited from the most rural areas in local government councils.
The committee chairman pointed out that the insistence of the PSC that the recruitment be based on equality of states made resolution of the crisis difficult, adding that this was why the President waded into the matter by halting the recruitment.
He, however, assured that the matter would be resolved when the President returns from Germany next week.
“And the reason for that is that we are poised to give emphasis to community policing. The local governments are the smallest recognised unit by the constitution. So, nine per local government will form the nucleus for this community policing per local government. The obstacle was equality of states.
“Some people felt that it is not representative of federal character. I asked them what about what is happening in the National Assembly, in which the number of persons per state in the House of Representatives is by the size of the local governments of that state, while the Senate is based on equality of states.
