The five thousand four hundred and eighty-two officers of the Nigeria Prisons Service newly-promoted in the service should uphold their integrity in the discharge of their duties.

Its Controller-General, Ja’afaru Ahmed, said this at the official decoration of the officers, saying character and discipline major in the criteria for promotions in the service.

Ahmed said character played a very large role in earning them their promotions, saying the era of officers being only interested in having ranks without giving cognisance to their character had gone.

He said integrity and discipline were also considered in the current exercise, tasking the officers to live up to expectations as more responsibility had been given to them.

Ahmed said to whom much was given, much was expected, saying it was their sense of duty that would earn them promotion.

The prisons boss said the current promotion was the third since he assumed duty in 2016, and said promotion in the service had become an issue as “officers spend 17 years in service without getting their promotions’’.

He said with the elevation, the yoke of stagnation of personnel in the service had been broken, saying the exercise was carried out to boost the morale of the personnel, and congratulated them on their elevation.

Ahmed, however, warned officers and men of the service who went about demanding for placements and payment of some arrears that it was not his duty to grant such demands.

“If promotion is done in any service, the list is sent to the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (ACGF). Every payment is made from the ACGF,” he said.

On his part, one of the promoted officers, Francis Enorbore, gave the assurance to uphold the ethics of the service and diligently perform assigned duties.

He described the controller-general as father-figure to officers, and expressed appreciation to him for breaking yoke of stagnation “and bringing smiles to the faces of the promoted officers’’.

“I assure you that we will not disappoint you or let you down. We promise to be at our best and to justify the confidence that the management reposed in us,” he said.

The officers were promoted to ranks ranging from Inspector of Prisons to Controller of Prisons.