Responding to the urgent request of President Muhammadu Buhari, IGP Solomon Arase has reduced the number of police men attached to governors and dignitaries to make them more effective to the people.
Arase who disclosed the information in Lagos during the weekend, had reduced the number of police men from 150 to 62.
The IGP said the police were worried that too many of their officers and men were doing jobs other than their core police duties, yet they were being promoted.
According to him, that was behind the decision to withdrawal security from unauthorized persons who use police orderlies for personal aggrandizement rather than as a result of a real threat to their lives. Such people, he said, should find other ways to secure themselves.
He denied that policemen working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were recalled to undermine the anti-corruption crusade of the government.
According to him, policemen working in other agencies like the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), NAPTIP, ICPC and others, who had stayed more than five years, were recalled to be replaced with another set, if necessary.
He said the EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Lamorde requested the retention of some of them because they were on special assignments, which, he said, he agreed to do.
The Police Service Commission said last week that a special squad would be deployed on the highways and airports to stop policemen doing illegal guard duties.
Arase said deployment of policemen for guard duties had ensured that of the about 305, 000 policemen engaged by the government, only about 150,000 were available for core duties.
He added that 40,000 policemen across ranks were due to attend promotion courses which he would ensure as soon as funding is available.
The recruitment of 10,000 policemen as announced by the Federal Government would have to wait till next year when there would be budget for it, Arase said adding that only the best hands would be recruited to ensuring that people of integrity are hired.
He expressed his determination to build a data base crime investigation with the support of a $10millon grant from a foreign country.
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