No Set Date Yet For Announcement Of New IGP – Presidency
The current Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu is expected to leave office today, Monday, as he attains the retirement age.
However, speaking on Monday morning on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said there is no date set, yet, for the announcement of a new Inspector-General of Police.
Shehu said, “The President returns to Abuja on Tuesday. He should be on his desk by Wednesday. I don’t know when he will do this. One thing I can assure you is that in places sensitive like that, there is no vacuum that will subsist, so therefore the system will take care of itself.”
He also stressed that the appointment of the next IGP will not be based on ethnic considerations.
“The President will rather have an Inspector-General of Police who will make you and I safer, protect life and property than one who is more pronounced by his tribal marks,” he said.
Adamu, who will turn 60 on September 17, was appointed as the IGP in January 2019. He has spent two years in office.
Three Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIGs) and 10 Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs) are also due for retirement with him today.
It is believed that there is a campaign to extend Adamu’s tenure but some have argued against such extension because it would contradict the provisions of the Police Act 2020 that pegs the retirement of police officers at 60 years of age or 35 years of service.
Section 18(8) of the new Act states: “Every police officer shall, on recruitment or appointment, serve in the Nigeria Police Force for 35 years or until the age of 60 years, whichever is earlier.”
The Act provides for a tenure of four years for the Inspector General of Police.
Section 7, subsection 2 of the Act provides that: “The person to be appointed as Inspector General of Police shall be a senior police officer not below the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police with the requisite academic qualification of not less than a first degree or its equivalent, in addition to professional or management experience.”
