THE Police Service Commission (PSC) approved the appointment of two female Commissioners of Police (CP) on Friday, June 30.
According to a statement by the Commission’s spokesperson Ikechuwku Ani, Acting Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun approved the appointment of eight CPs, two of whom are female.
Speaking with The ICIR, Ani confirmed that the female Commissioners are Adelesi E. Oluwarotimi and Augustina Ogbodo. Oluwarotimi was posted to Kwara while Ogbodo will serve in Ebonyi.
Other appointees include Godwin Aghaulor for Borno; Adebola Ayinde Hamzat, Oyo; Samuel Titus Musa, Kebbi; Aderemi Olufemi Adeoye, Anambra; Stephen Olarewaju, Imo; and Alamatu Abiodun Mustapha, Ogun.
The PSC commended Egbetokun for the gender inclusivity reflected in the appointments and urged him to include officials from disadvantaged geo-political zones in subsequent appointments.
“The Commission however expects that the Inspector General in his subsequent proposals will include more officers of North East and South East geopolitical zones that are yet to record the benchmark of 15 per cent as decided at its last plenary meeting,” Ani noted.
This is to meet up with the new guidelines for a more balanced deployment of top officials in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), approved by the PSC.
On June 18, the PSC approved gender-inclusive policy guidelines for deploying top officials in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The guidelines provide that at least, three out of the 37 state commands must have female officers as Commissioners of Police (CPs), and one out of the 17 zonal headquarters must have a female Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) in charge.
According to the Commission, the guidelines were to avoid portraying the NPF as anti-female and address the lopsided appointment of only male officials to Zones and Commands.
The PSC also approved that all geo-political zones must have at least 15 per cent representation in the deployment of Assistant Inspectors-General, Commissioners of Police and Commanding Officers to address the lack of equity and inclusiveness in the deployment of senior officers within the NPF.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.