Police Commission Set to Recall 95 Disengaged Staff, Following Court Ruling

Dele Ogbodo in Abuja
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has said the commission is set to recall the 95 staff wrongly disengaged from its service in 2016, following judgements from the National Industrial Court.

Speaking with THISDAY yesterday, the Head of Media of the commission, Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, said the commission has since approved the recall of the staff and had also put in place processes for their immediate resumption of duty, adding that their recall letters is being processed.

He admitted that the commission would continue to operate within the confines of the rule of law and would not detract from its position to obey judgments of Courts of competent jurisdiction.
He said: “The commission wishes to state that it has not declined to comply with the judgment of the National Industrial Court in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/11/2014 of 7th October, 2016, where it was directed to recall some of its staff disengaged due to irregular appointments.

“The commission has since approved the recall of the staff and has also put in place processes for their immediate resumption of duty. Their letters of recall are currently being processed.”
However, he said it was also instructive to explain that the affected staff were only inherited by the present commission which did its best to regularise their defective recruitment but to no success.

He said: “The immediate past commission, against laid down rules and regulations guiding recruitment into the federal public service, issued letters of appointments to people without due process.

“There was no advertisement for vacant positions, no interviews held and no financial provision for payment of their salaries. The newly recruited staff worked for five months without salaries.”

He said the present commission led by Sir. Mike Mbama Okiro (rtd), on resumption of duty, wrote to the Accountant General of the Federation requesting for payment for the said staff but the request was turned down because the recruitment did not follow due process.

According to him, the new staff were therefore not captured in the budget and the Integrated Personnel Payroll System (IPPIS).

He said: “The Commission also wrote to the presidency for a waiver which was also turned down. It was after these efforts that the Commission invited the affected staff  for a meeting where they were briefed on the situation and advised to go pending the regularisation of the exercise. Since then, efforts had been on-going to resolve the matter.

“The Commission however has decided to recall them in line with the judgment of the National Industrial Court.”