A Deputy Inspector-General of Police and 121, 209 other officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force will soon write a promotional examination.

The other officers and men that would write the examination comprise four Assistant Inspectors- General of Police; 124 Commissioners; 13,412 Superintendents; 15,348 inspectors and 92,319 junior policemen.

The exercise, according to the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Adamu Waziri, is a way of addressing the backlog of promotion across all categories of rank and file in the NPF.

Waziri, at a news conference in Abuja on Monday, added that the Federal Government would need at least N6.2bn to pay the salaries and other emoluments of those that would be promoted.

He, however, did not say when the examination, which he said would not be the only criteria for the promotion, would take place.

Waziri explained that the police establishment had suffered a backlog of promotion over the years which had given rise to agitations and loss of morale, especially among policemen in the rank of Assistant Superintendents of Police and downwards.

The minister explained the key features of the proposed promotion included the re-introduction of the full complement of the inspectorate category where major command ranks earlier abandoned would be re-established to address hierarchical progression from inspector to ASP.

Waziri further stated that the promotion would affect 42,902 constables, who would move to the next rank of corporal. He added that the deficit would be addressed in the ongoing recruitment into the force.

The minister said that training for new police recruits would be short, but intensive because the initial duration of 180 days was being compressed into 90 days “in view of impending national requirements.”

“We have dispatched teams to each zone to conduct needs assessment of the training colleges in view of this exercise,” he added.

Waziri highlighted the critical role of the Police Service Commission in the implementation of the programme, noting that its inputs have been invaluable in view of its role as the statutory body that deals with promotion, discipline and recruitment into the police.

The minister said, “I have taken steps to ensure that both merit and federal character are upheld in the submissions to the PSC and we believe that they will oversight these arrangements in their evaluation.

“The overall budgetary implication that will make the NPF establishment to increase by about 121, 210 spanning DIG to PC will be about N6.2bn and there is enough budgetary provision for the emoluments.”

Waziri dispelled the confusion over the passage of the bill on the Police Reform Trust Fund by the Federal Executive Council on June 16, 2010, saying the trust fund was different from the controversial Police Equipment Fund managed by Chief Kenny Martins.

According to him, the fund will manage the implementation of the M.D. Yusuf report on repositioning of the NPF over a six-year period.