Constables recruitment: PSC workers protest, plan strike, lock out chairman

WORKERS of the Police Service Commission have threatened to down tool if the management of the commission failed to take over the 2022 recruitment of constables from the Nigeria Police Force which is handling the exercise.

The workers prevented the commission’s chairman, Musiliu Smith, and other board members from holding their plenary on Tuesday.

Smith and the commissioners were stopped from entering the conference hall for the meeting as the workers insisted on holding an impromptudeliberation with the management team.

Addressing the PSC chairman and other board members, the Chairman, Joint Union Congress, PSC chapter, Adoyi Adoyi, said the workers would embark on a three-day warning strike if the management failed to address the takeover of the constables’ recruitment by the police, conclude the promotion of staff and carry out the annual training of workers.

He accused the commission of surrendering its mandate to the force, adding that

the union may be compelled to petition the President if the commission’s leadership failed to address their grievances.

Adoyi said, “We are disappointed that the commission has surrendered to the police its mandate which was affirmed by the court. The commission is suffering and posterity will judge the leadership if the PSC dies in your hands.

“The commission is fast becoming a conduit for corruption and the accounting department is a poster boy for graft.”

The workers accused the commission of rendering its workers redundant, adding that the police have taken over their job of recruiting constables.

The PSC chairman listed what his management had done since assuming office and promised to deliberate on the workers’ demands before holding the plenary.

“We would discuss your demands at a management meeting and provide feedback,” he said. Punch