#ENDSARS: FG innaugurates Police Public complaints committee (PPCC)
In its bid to forestall the repeat of the ENDSARS protest that led to loss of lives and property in October 2020, the minister of police Affairs Alhaji Muhammed Maigari Dingyadi has inaugurated Police Public complaints committee (PPCC).
The commission is to provide permanent structure that will help to effectively nip in the bud civil unrests with their undesirable and disruptive tendencies, by providing the populace with the opportunities to channel their grievances on the misconduct of Police Personnel to the appropriate quarters for necessary action.
While inaugurating the committee the minister said if the committee had been active, it would have provided adequate channel through which affected Nigerians would have been ventilating their grievances on Police brutality and the tragedy which befell the nation late last year might have been averted.
“This administration is therefore determined that such ugly incidents would never occur again.”He recalled his address to the National Assembly during the defence of the Ministry’s 2021 budget to the effect that the PPCC would be reactivated to investigate all complaints involving Police Personnel and members of the public.”It is good to note that the PPCC had been in existence since but over the years became moribund due to lack of funds.’ Indeed,
“While there is a Public Complaints Commission that deals generally with all kinds of complaints against administrative injustices by public institutions, the Police Public Complaints Committee, which we are inaugurating today is created as a specialized institution to deal strictly with public complaints against Police Personnel. “Needless to say that this practice is obtainable in many advanced nations such as Canada””The overriding objective of the PPCC is to serve as an institution that has oversight on the activities of Police Personnel viz-a -viz their interaction with the public.
“It is obvious that the current habit of the public lodging complaints against Police Personnel at Police Stations or at various Police commands have not given the desired solutions to aggrieved Nigerians.
Once the PPCC becomes operational, he said he will expect it to swing into action by embarking on wide publicity and Sensitization campaigns to enable Nigerians to be aware of its existence and its functions and thereby recognize it as a proper avenue to channel their complaints against Police Personnel.
He said the Committee is also expected to create a platform and Special dedicated phone numbers through which the public can channel their complaints.
“I would also like to see the PPCC decentralize its structure to ensure that Nigerians have easy access to it. “For instance, the PPCC may even consider opening channels of communication at all Local Government Headquarters for this purpose.”
“The PPCC is designed to have a Subcommittee to be known as Special Investigation Unit (SIU). This will be made up of professionals who will be charged with the responsibility of indepth analysis and thorough investigation of every case broughtbefore it and proffer recommendations accordingly.
“I charge the PPCC to work assiduously and in a transparent manner as to give confidence to Nigerians that their complaints will be attended to by a fair, just and equitable systerri.
“The Committee is not out to witchhunt the men and officers of the Nigerian Police Force, rather it is to work in synergy with the Police to ensure it carries out its mandate effectively.
“I therefore charge the members of the PPCC to rise above board in the discharge of their duty. The Government is committed to support the PPCC in every possible way to help it achieve its mandate.
“The committee is made up of Ministry of Police Affairs (Chair); Police Service Commission; Ministry of Justice, National Human Rights Commission, National Intelligence Agency and Non Governmental Organizatien (CLEEN Foundation)
Others are Nigeria Police Force, Police Community RelatIons Committee, department of State Security services and Police Inspectorate Department (Secretariat)