In a bid to stop intake of drugs among Policemen across Nigeria, the Police Service Commission (PSC) has disclosed that youths seeking to join the law enforcement agency will now be required to undergo a drug integrity test before being enlisted into the force.
It said that the aim is to ensure that applicants with the right frame of mind eventually make it out of police training colleges across the country.
The Chairman of PSC, DIG Hashimu Argungu (retd) disclosed this on Tuesday during a courtesy visit to the office of the Chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig Gen Buba Marwa (rtd), in Abuja.
Argungu, who led a delegation of the PSC management on a courtesy visit, said that the NDLEA’s support is needed to conduct effective drug tests for police recruits across the colleges.
While commending the leadership of NDLEA for the support so far received, the PSC boss said his visit was to seek further assistance.
“I feel there is a need to come and plead, to seek the assistance and cooperation of this organization, because we follow process and procedures in anything we do so that we can produce the best results.
“If the process and procedures were followed wrongly, the result or product is going to be bad. So, recruitment in anywhere, in any sector, if bad eggs are in the process, the product or the people you are training is not going to be good. So, we feel it’s very, very important.
“We are going to decentralize this screening exercise to different states of the federation. And because there is NDLEA in every state of the country, we want them to assist us in screening those who are already on drugs in whatever form, because we can’t churn out and put arms in the hands of people already dependent on illicit drugs; that is dangerous. This is the main reason why we are here, and we are thanking you for your cooperation.”
In his response, Marwa noted that the drug scourge is a challenge affecting every part of national life and propelling security challenges.
He said this explains why there is need for all stakeholders to embrace a whole of government and society approach to curbing the menace.
“On your request for drug integrity test for new police recruits, we are delighted about this and we’re happy to collaborate with you on this. We are prepared across all our commands all over the country with high-quality test kits that will give you the right results.
“This is important because candidates play all manner of tricks with urine samples, but our kits are produced to detect all of those. In all, you can rest assured we’ll be glad to work with you and support you on this”, the NDLEA boss stated.
