1,100 Police Officers Transfer Out Of Lagos

One thousand one hundred police officers from the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) to Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), who have served four years and above in Lagos State Police Command, have been transferred to other states.

Daily Independent gathered that their transfer was dispatched to the command on Monday.

Dependable sources from the Force Headquarters disclosed that the exercise was the tactical approach of the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, aimed at injecting fresh ideas for administrative efficiency.

In this vein, policemen who have spent four years and above at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, zonal or state commands, are to be posted out to other states, as directed by the police boss, for operational effectiveness.

This was contained in a signal signed by the Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to the IGP, Idowu Owohunwa, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).

The IGP’s action, it was gathered, may not be unconnected with the desire to contain the practice whereby officers and other ranks negotiate with the powers-that-be and serve at various command units for years and some escape deployment to crisis zones.

It was gathered that the IGP was also concerned by the spate of violent crimes across the country and the seeming inability of the police to take charge.

According to our source at the Force Headquarters, “The IGP has approved the downsizing of the personnel profile of the Force Headquarters, Zonal Headquarters, and State Command Headquarters with immediate effect.

“The downsizing will affect officers at the Force Headquarters, Abuja and Lagos Annex. Some officers have served so many years at these places and they keep working their postings to stay there.

“The directive mandated all departments within the Force Headquarters, Abuja, and zonal and state headquarters to start reducing their personnel strength by at least 30 percent.

“It is for both officers and rank and file. It gave one-week deadline for the list (comprehensive nominal roll of personnel by department) to reach the IGP secretariat.

“Those who have stayed more than four years must be redeployed from the headquarters as well as those adjudged to be lacking in capacity to contribute meaningfully to the mandates of the departments.

“All those to be deployed from the Force Headquarters will be posted to state commands across the country to boost manpower.”

Efforts to reach the Force Public Relations Officer, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Frank Mba, or the Lagos police image-maker, Bala Elkana, a DSP, for comments were unsuccessful.