The Nigeria Police, it has been learnt, has hiked the cost of Police Character Certificate (PCC), also known as police clearance, by around 700 per cent to N40, 000, from its previous price of N5, 000.
PCC is a document issued by the Nigeria Police to certify that an individual does not have criminal record, criminal conviction or is trying to evade prosecution for crimes committed in the country.
The document is largely sought by individuals, mostly youths, travelling out of the country to further their studies or to take up employment; though some organisations in Nigeria sometimes request certain individuals to provide the PCC.
Several policemen who spoke to our correspondence, who disguised as a student seeking to obtain the PCC, said they received a directive from the police authorities, July 22, 2022, that the price of the document should be hiked to N40, 000 on that same day, without any reason.
One of the policemen at the Lagos Command said prior to that directive, they used to issue the PCC for N5, 000.
Another policeman in Abuja had initially agreed to process it for N25, 000, thinking it was the price at which he normally does it, but on presenting the data for check, he was told that the price has been hiked to N40, 000 since July 22, 2022.
Prior to the official hike, the actual price was known as it could range range from as low as N5, 000 to as high as N100, 000, depending on the police officer one approaches or the individual requesting for it.
All efforts by our correspondent to get reactions from the Nigeria Police Force through the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the person of DSP Adeh Josephine, proved abortive as she did not answer calls, or replied to text messages.