The Nigeria Police Force is one of the professional bodies in the country having the largest number of its personnel as qualified lawyers, The Point investigation has revealed.
Checks revealed that policemen and officers have in the last ten years being in the forefront of candidates enrolling to study law in most universities across the country accredited to offer courses in Law.
Consequently, it is now on record that, today, over 5000 policemen and officers are qualified to practice law in Nigeria. In-depth investigations revealed further that, currently, over 3000 police personnel are students pursuing Law programmes at various levels in universities across the country.
Police officers are known to have often seized the opportunity whenever they are posted to areas that offer such Law programmes.
Also, universities in Lagos, Ibadan and other cities are known to have, in addition to Law, always admitted police officers to study other relevant courses such as Public Administration, Criminology, Political Science, Computer Science and other related courses that could aid the law enforcement agents in the performance of their duty.
It was learnt that the quest by many police personnel to study Law arose from the fact that more often than n o t some of the cases they handled in courts as prosecutors were often thrown out by judges for lack of diligent prosecution.
The judges, it was learnt, usually picked holes in the legal procedures adopted by the police prosecutors, resulting in embarrassment to the officers. But with the increase in the number of police personnel studying Law and other relevant courses, the situation, it was gathered, had started to change for the better, especially in the area of diligent prosecution of cases in courts.
Our correspondent learnt that now many of the cases handled in courts by police prosecutors “have weight and can successfully stand the test of legal scrutiny.”
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Jimoh Moshood said that the leadership of the force recognised the need for officers and men to go for further education by returning to school.
Jimoh, a chief superintendent of police, said, “Our inspector general is a listening and disciplined leader, who encourages us to seize any opportunity to advance in our careers; and this has helped many of us.”
During the tenure of former inspector general of police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, the bar of educational qualification to enlist in the force was raised. It was then made mandatory that intending police recruits should possess a minimum qualification of Ordinary Diploma, Advanced Level Certificate or the National Certificate of Education.
