The Minister of Police Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi has charged members of the Police Public Complaints Committee (PPC) to work assiduously in a transparent manner as to give confidence to Nigerians that their complaints will be attended to by a fair, just, and equitable system.
He stated this during the Sensitization Campaign on the Police Public Complaints Committee (PPCC) activities for the North West held at the Giginya Hotel, Sokoto state.
The Minister said the Committee is not out to witch-hunt 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.
In his words, “the overriding objective of the PPCC is to serve as a platform 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”.
He opined that Public Complaints Commission deals generally with all kinds of complaints against administrative injustices by public institutions while the Police Public Complaints Committee, is created as a specialized institution to deal strictly with public complaints against Police Personnel.
Dingyadi noted that, if the PPCC had been active, it would have provided an adequate channel through which affected Nigerians would ventilate their grievances on Police brutality and the tragedy which befell the nation in October 2020, would have been averted. This administration is, therefore, determined to ensure that such ugly incidents would never occur again. He stressed.
According to him, “the idea is to put in place a permanent structure as a proactive mechanism that will help to effectively nip in the bud civil unrests, distrust and apathy with their undesirable or concomitant effects 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”.
The Minister reiterated that the initiative is in furtherance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s quest to achieve people-centric security arrangements, which prioritizes respect for citizens’ rights, address genuine cases of infractions to promote inclusiveness in policing arrangements to advance peace and security for national development.
He added that the choice of the northwest zone for the second edition draws strength from the need to elicit support towards decapitating notorious elements, threatening peace and security in the zone and for the support of the recently launched “Operation Sahara Storm” in Sokoto by the Inspector General of Police which would be replicated in other states of northwest Nigeria.
In his goodwill message, the Sokoto State Governor represented by Abdul Kadir Mohammed Ahmed commended the proactive measure taken by the Ministry of Police Affairs for resuscitating the PPCC which is a sign that the government is taking proactive measures to protect and avoid unfortunate incidents that may occur like EndSARs protest adding that the relationship between the police and Sokoto state citizens are cordial.
The representative of the Inspector General of Police, AIG Bello Sanni Zone 10 stated that the sensitization campaign will go a long way to keep the public abreast of the role of police in safeguarding lives and properties of the citizens noting that PPCC is a child of necessity put in place to augment the work of police force that would enable the public complained about their grievances and sought for redress.
Earlier, the Student Union Leader of the Usman Dan Fodio University, Muhammad Shamsideen Umar pointed out that the PPCC initiative is commendable, timely and a welcome development that will go a long way to checkmate and address some of the issues between the public and the police officers.
He urged the government to devise a way to receive and properly analyze intelligence regarding persons and rebellion organizations whose activities or intentions may endanger the security and sovereignty of its citizens and the country.