We Don’t Pay Salary For Community Policing Constables, Force Headquarters Clarifies
The Nigeria Police Force has made it clear that the recently introduced Community Policing Constabulary Scheme of the Force did not have monthly salary attached to those taking part in it.
Reacting to the recent protest of Community Policing Constables in Ilorin, Kwara State, the Force spokesman, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Olumuyiwa Adejobi said that the scheme is a purely voluntary service that was introduced by the Federal Government to train and incorporate individuals with prior paid employment who desire to spend their spare time assisting the police in its simple police tasks within their various communities.
“It therefore came as a rude shock that members of the scheme were protesting non-payment of salaries in Kwara State recently when the ultimate purpose and rule of engagement of the scheme is to promote community partnership in crime control via the presence of respected members of the public, with a source of livelihood, partnering with the Force under the scheme to render voluntary service for better and improved policing within their communities.
“The scheme clearly delineates the roles of the Community Policing Constables, who are not direct employees/personnel of the Police but of their respective communities, at both divisional and state levels to include assisting the police in crime detection and prevention, conflict resolution, intelligence gathering and dissemination to local Police Commanders, maintenance of law and order, deployment to complement conventional police officers in patrolling their communal public space, advising the public on safety, crime prevention, and security tips, dealing with minor offences and social vices, working with relevant stakeholders on crime control, and traffic management and school safety duties.
“The Nigeria Police therefore re-emphasizes the fact that the scheme is voluntary and no payments were agreed with the individuals under the scheme neither were paid terms of appointment discussed prior to its commencement. Subsequently, considering the fact that a protest for payment when there is no basis for such is mischievous and ill-conceived; the Force however, will be taking adequate measures to review the effectiveness of the scheme as soon as possible.”
The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved contract for the provision of security services to the Abuja Rail Mass Transit phase at a total sum of N718, 193, 250 million.
President Muhammadu Buhari has made it clear that he has no preferred candidates for the 2023 general elections other than the ones duly elected at the party’s primary.
Enraged by the killing of an Islamic Scholar by a soldier whom he assisted with his car, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the army high command to flush out all soldiers with criminal tendencies to avoid its image being dragged into the mud.
A 25-year-old man, Elisha Tari, has confessed that he killed his two sons (3 and 5 years old respectively) because they were shouting fire, fire on me when he asked them to say God.
Kashim Shettima: The Starboy Of NBA Show, By Bayo Onanuga
He was a victim of the Twitter herd, people who behave like the herdsman’s cows, without any reflection and tweet what others in their group are tweeting, tweets dripping with hate and insults, that ought not to be on the social media platform were the Twitter police alive to their responsibility.
Shettima, two term governor of Borno, a serving senator and vice presidential candidate of the APC became the butt of derisive jokes that Monday, because he featured as a panelist at the NBA Conference in Lagos. He came to represent Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He was the first to take the podium, which was provided after he had started speaking. He jettisoned a prepared speech on the topic and rather chose to speak on the track records of Tinubu as governor of Lagos and his record as governor of Borno state.
His delivery, done extemporaneously, was top notch. As many unbiased listeners said, he was the starboy at the segment of the conference. He spoke eloquently with conviction. He quoted figures and he said he and Tinubu will replicate their joint records at the centre from 29 May 2023.
Senator Shettima outshone other speakers. He was better than Obi, who as usual reeled out fake statistics about oil production and theft, unemployment, declared Nigeria a failed state but failed to offer solutions. Atiku who also came tried to make a political capital out of ASUU strike by advocating the transfer of Federal universities to the states. Afterall, he said some of the universities had regional history. He was referring to Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife and Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Nsukka. Hours later Atiku walked back the suggestion and denied ever saying so.
Shettima spoke about how Tinubu and his successors grew the economy of Lagos from N600m revenue base to N51billion today, to become Africa’s fourth biggest economy. He spoke about their readiness to deploy his experience in fighting insurgents to deal with problems of banditry and kidnapping today.
Not a rabble rouser, Shettima’s submission appealed more to the rational audience in the hall of Eko Atlantic and Suites. Lawyer and activist Ayo Obe, who listened to the panelists of politicians, tweeted: “Going by their performance in answering questions in their panel discussion at #NBAAGC2022, when it comes to citing figures and data, and giving examples from other countries, I think that @PeterObi has met his match in @KashimSM.
Clearly, some sections of people in the hall were not interested in Shettima’s speech. They were focussed on the mundane: his attire. But they got it all wrong. If they had not been limited by their own bushman’s narrow view, they would have known that it was pointless ridiculing the senator with his suit and tie. They were the people that needed further exposure on the correctness of dress modes.
A lot of people may still be wondering why Tinubu picked Shettima as running mate and not somebody else. One of the reasons was what the whole world saw on display Monday.
Shettima is highly cerebral. Give Shettima the option to pick a monetary or book prize, he will opt for books. He loves books, his friends testify, such that any time he travels out of the country, he returns with book gifts. Shettima is not a dude, he is rather a deep thinker, indeed a big thinker.
This is one reason Borno people will not forget him in a hurry. Despite the Boko Haram crisis that began in 2009, two years before he became governor , Shettima left a legacy of big schools, better than some of the Nigerian universities. He built housing estates and hospitals. He rebuilt over 50 churches destroyed by the insurgents. He invested in agriculture and left a successor that has continued to build on his legacy, just like Tinubu’s successors have been doing in Lagos.
Shettima is also cosmopolitan. He was educated in Maiduguri and Ibadan. He studied Agricultural Economics first at UNIMAID. He did his NYSC in Calabar. He then went for a masters degree at UI. He started his working career in 1991 as a lecturer in Agricultural Economics at the University of Maiduguri, before crossing to banking.
His first port of call was Commercial Bank of Africa as an Agricultural Economist at its Ikeja Office, Lagos State between 1993 and 1997. He left as deputy manager to join African International Bank Limited, Kaduna Branch (1997–2001).
From AIB, Shettima in 2001 joined Zenith Bank as Deputy Manager/Branch Head in the Maiduguri Office in 2001. Within six years, he rose to become the General Manager, one of the fastest career progression by any staff in Nigeria’s biggest bank.
But the pull of politics was irresistible for the banker. In 2007, he took up political appointment as commissioner for finance and economic development in his home state of Borno.
He was so good that within the four years he served under Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, he was moved from ministry to ministry. His last place was the ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs.
The left-handed Shettima became the governor of Borno state by accident in 2011. This happened after insurgents killed the original candidate, Engineer Modu Fannami Gubio.
The rest is now history.