EDUCATION AND CAREERING AMONG POLICEWOMEN IN KADUNA STATE POLICE HEADQUARTERS, NIGERIA.

¹Isiaka Monsurat and ²Abdul-Mumin Sa’ad

¹Department of Sociology, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

²Professor of Sociology (Criminology) Department of Sociology, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria

E-mail: mansuratisiaka@gmail.com,amsaadj@yahoo.com

Abstract: The Police Force is a formal organisation that recognizes the importance of having skilled and versatile workforce in addition to the willingness of the officers to improve on their level of education and to engage in training and attending professional courses so as to enhance their career development and to also enables the Police Force to effectively compete in the global marketplace. Despite all these, most of the women officers in the NPF are found on rank and files. It is as a result of this that this research examined the level of educational qualifications of the policewomen, their ranks and designations, willingness to further their education and attend professional courses after enlistment, how often they go for these courses and how strongly is education related to rank and designations in the NPF. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to generate data for the study. The quantitative data was obtained via administration of questionnaire. A total number of one hundred and eighty (180) questionnaires were distributed from which one hundred and forty two (142) were recovered and analyzed. The qualitative data on the other hand was collected through the use of Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and the In-depth Interview (IDI). Two groups of eight were drawn from the target population, one comprising only the women while the second group comprising only the men. The major results of our analyses showed that majority of the policewomen were on rank-and-files because of their low level of education at the point of enlistment and their unwillingness to further their education and attend professional courses after enlistment. They were also unwilling to accept transfers. Consequently, we recommended that policewomen need to improve on their education, be willing to accept transfers, show interest and participate in training and attending professional courses so as to enhance their skills for the promotions their career development in the NPF.