The House of Representatives yesterday queried Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro for paying N1.2 billion to a consultant for technology-aided recruitment services provided to the Police.

The House recently passed a resolution condeming the online recruitment on the ground that many Nigerians were been shortchanged. Okiro was queried over proceeds made from the N2,000 application fee charged each applicant for the exeercise, which totalled N1.2 billion.

Following a resolution of the House last week directing the Police to complement the online recruitment with the distribution of hard copies of application forms through its various commands, the IG was summoned by the House Committee on Police Affairs to explain the level of compliance with the resolution.

The IG, however, told the members of the House the Police has a sharing arrangement of 60:40 of the proceeds of the exercise in favour of the consultant handling the project.

But Deputy Speaker, Usman Nafada who attended the meeting essentailly because of police disregard for its resolution told the IG that he had his reservations for that aspect of the deal. According to him, there was no justification for that kind of negotiation that would put the Police at a gross disadvantage.

He said if the intention of the Police was to enrich the consultant at the expense of government, it had to be done discreetly and not in a brazen manner as it has been revealed by the sharing ratio. "I am not in support of the IG's defence of the online recruitment because the House has already passed a resolution. I also have my reservations for the sharing formula of the application fee. If N2b has been collected, it means the consultant will have N1.2billion while the Police will have only N800m. I don't think that is right. You can't just enrich the consultant just like that."

Nafada told the IG that the resolution of the House was aimed at reducing the hardship of Nigerians, especially applicants who may live in rural areas where internet facilities may not be readily available, saying “our purpose as legislators is to reduce the cost to Nigerians”.

He pointed out that the circulation of hard copies of the application forms would not bring on extra cost since the Police already had structures through itsr commands and divisions.

Members of the committee headed by Paulinus Igwe, who took their turns to speak after Nafada, insisted that the Police must abide by the House resolution as the purpose was simply altruistic.

Specifically, the House had urged the police to complement the online recruitment with circulation of hard copies of application forms, adding that the applicants should not be charged fees.

But a source in the Police, who would rather remain anonymous, said the contract entered into by the IGP for the force is to run for five years, within which period the force would have recruited and enlisted about 200,000 personnel through the agency.

The move by the IGP was to checkmate the corruption among the recruiting officers, who demand between N45, 000 and N100, 000 for recruit cadre and officers cadre respectively before they are employed by the Police. In his defence of the online recruitment earlier, Okiro pointed out that due to its strategic importance, the Police could no longer overlook technology literacy in its operations. He said that was the reason his administration had made it a priority for the personnel to acquire technology education. He highlighted the benefits of online recruitment to include prevention of multiple registration, removal of artificial scarcity of the forms, easy sorting of application forms, reduction in the cost of publicity, reduction in the risk of traveling, among others.

According to Okiro, the world was moving forward and the country could not afford to be left behind, insisting that internet access in the country was capable of sustaining the exercise.

On the high rate of kidnapping in the country, Okiro said the Police had been handicapped in the prosecution of offenders because of the relationship that often exist betweeen the kidnappers and the victims, adding that more often than not relations of victims had been involved.