Police spend N1.9bn on ‘redundant’ officers yearly

The Nigerian Police Force spends N1.9billion annually on the salaries of 1,300 ‘redundant’ officers recruited as specialists six years ago, according to findings by Daily Trust.The officers – comprising
1,086 Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs) and 214 Inspectors – were enlisted in 2010 through a processes started during the tenure of former Inspector-General of Police Chief Mike Okiro.
However, the specialists, including engineers, pilots, ballisticians, medical doctors, veterinary doctors, forensics experts, ICT experts and hand writing analysts are not being properly utilised six years after undergoing training on police duties such as parades, musketry, weapon handling.

Daily Trust reports that an ASP receives N130,000 monthly as salary, meaning the 1,086 ASPs take  N141,180,000 monthly and N1,694,160,000 annually. An inspector on the other hand earns N78,000 monthly as salary, which translates to N16,692,000  monthly and N200,304,000 annually for the 214 inspectors.

Senior Police sources told Daily Trust that efforts by successive inspectors-general of police to convert the officers to general duty had not yielded result.

Daily Trust, December 5