President Muhammadu Buhari has extended the tenure of Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, by three months, the government announced Thursday.
Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammad Dingyadi, announced this on in Abuja.
The extension was necessary to allow for the proper selection of Adamu’s successor, Dingyadi told State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Matters relating to the appointment of the IGP are to be discussed by the Nigeria Police Council, but this body had not met in the last 21 months.
Adamu was due to retire from the Police Force on Monday, February 1, 2021, having spent 35 years in the service. The criteria for disengagement from the Police, as it is in many other areas of public service, are 35 years of service or attainment of 60 years of age, whichever comes first.
This is according to the provisions of the Police Act 2020 that pegs the retirement of police officers at 60 years of age or 35 years of service.
Until the announcement Thursday, there have been speculations as to what has happened to the leadership of the Nigeria Police, as the Presidency made no official statement.
Adamu has served as the IGP for two years, following having been appointed to the position in January 2019.
Also due to retire with the IGP are three Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIGs) and 10 Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs).
Nigeria is currently witnessing an increasing wave of insecurity, with kidnapping at an unprecedented level in the country. Kidnappers have taken over the country’s highways, farmlands, and neighborhoods, where they abduct people at will and ask for ransom.
President Muhammadu Buhari last week changed the Service Chief whom he appointed upon assumption of office in 2015. The security chiefs had by last week overshot their service period, but all calls by Nigerians for the present to change them yielded no results earlier.
