Police expunge law sacking unmarried pregnant female officers to ensure inclusion
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Police have expunged laws and regulations mandating the dismissal of unmarried female officers who get pregnant in active service, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Aishatu Baju has disclosed, four years after public fury over the sack of a policewoman found pregnant out of wedlock.
Baju announced on Channels Television on Wednesday that laws discriminating against women in the police have been expunged to ensure inclusion.
When reminded of the case of Omolola Olajide, an unmarried police corporal in Ekiti dismissed in 2021 for being pregnant, Baju explained that unmarried policewomen are no longer dismissed for getting pregnant in active service.
Her words: “That Section 127 and any section of the Police Act and regulation that has gender discrimination have been expunged, looking at the Police Act of 2020 and the police reform that is currently going on.
“The IGP (Inspector General of Police) has just last year launched the Nigeria Police Gender Policy just to make sure that there is complete eradication of any form of gender discrimination.
“I can tell you that the Nigeria Police has come of age, and the IG is intentional about inclusivity and making sure that the Nigeria Police is an equal opportunity institution.”
Asked to respond specifically as to whether the police no longer fire unmarried female officers who get pregnant, Baju said, “Yes”.
Olajide’s dismissal in 2021 triggered outrage with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) taking a lawsuit at a Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the legality of Section 127 of the police regulations.
The court dismissed the suit in February 2022 for lacking merit, ruling that such officers were aware of the regulation before they applied to join the police.
Read also: