New IGP to Tackle Corrupt Civil Servants

New IGP to Tackle Corrupt Civil Servants

Acting inspector-general of police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris on Thursday directed all police officers from the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) upwards to prepare to declare their assets as it was obligatory.

Acting IGP Ibrahim Kpotun Idris with Minister of Interior, Gen Abdurahman Dambazzau; credit: Twitter/PoliceNG

The Nation reports that Idris gave this directive while paying a visit to the minister of interior, Abdulrahman Dambazzau during which he also promised to rid the streets of criminals and ensure police presence is felt in all cities, towns and villages. Idris said:

“Under Section 13 of the Code of Conduct law, Cap 15 in the Federal Law of Nigeria, every police officer from the IGP to the ASPs are the Commission officers and they must declare their asset.

“I must declare my assets  and every police officer must declare his asset since I am declaring mine. They are the commissioned officers under our structure and it is the requirement of the Code of Conduct Law of Federal Republic of Nigeria and I don’t think a state made law for the fun of it. The essence of making law for everybody to declare his or her asset is to uphold certain rules.”

The acting IGP also stated that the police force will be rededicating itself to combating the scourge of corruption in the society with a focus on civil servants.

“For some time now, what people see is the EFCC and DSS but if you look at the Nigeria Police Force when we joined, the X-Squad were the covered police personnel that go after policemen and anybody because if you look at Section 4 of the Police Act, police serve the responsibility to prevent crime, to enforce; so, fighting crime is in line with our duties.

“In line with the current administration’s fight against corruption, our X-Squad will be strengthened and we are going to give them the incentives to work and their activities will not be limited to police alone. We will go after the local government, state government and Federal Government employees because the constitution permits us to do that,” he said.

Dambazzau said Nigerians have high expectations of the acting IGP and urged him to ensure that the discipline and welfare of police officers were not taken for granted.