No place for unmarried pregnant women in Nigerian police
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Unmarried but pregnant women face dismissal from the police service in Nigeria, a decision that has now been upheld by a court.
A federal high court in Nigeria upheld the police force’s decision to sack an unmarried officer who fell pregnant last year.
Her case gained prominence in Nigeria forcing the Nigerian Bar Association to send her case to court.
The Nigeria Bar Association said “The male police officers and married female police officers in the Nigeria Police Force are not subjected to similar discrimination, sanction, opprobrium, and indignity.”
The said unmarried woman fell pregnant in 2021 and although some considered the decision to sack her discriminatory, the court said it was justified.
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The federal high court judge Justice Inyang Ekwo said in his ruling that he found no compelling reason “to disrupt the discipline of the force”.
“Any person who joins the force must abide by the regulation of the force or not join the force as there is no compulsion about its membership,” he added.
Many security service across Africa have regulations for a long time are considered discriminatory.
In 2018 Ghanaians that were hoping to secure jobs in the country’s immigration service had their hopes dashed after the service disqualified some of them who applied for the jobs.
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Those disqualified had bleached skins and stretch marks, which the service considers inappropriate.
Applicants with tattoos, dreadlocks and “bow legs” were barred from joining the service in an exercise, an action officials of the service defended at the time.
Source: Africafeeds.com
