FG SENSITIZES NORTH CENTRAL ON PPCC’s MANDATE
The Federal Government through the Ministry of Police Affairs has sensitized the good people of Kogi State and other states in the zone on the existence and the mandates of the Police Public Complaints Committee (PPCC), as a direct response to forestall violent anti-police protests such as the EndSARS protests.
A statement signed by the Head, Press and Public Relations Unit, Bolaji O. Kazeem, and made available to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) noted that the sensitization campaign for the North Central was held with the stakeholders from civil society, youths organization, religious leaders, market women traditional institutions, and rank and file of police officers at the IdriNana Hotels, Lokongoma, Lokoja, Kogi State.
The Honourable Minister of Police Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi who was represented by the Director Legal, Mr. Bolarinde Omoluabi stated that the initiative is in furtherance of President Mohammadu Buhari’s quest to attain people-centered policing arrangements, which prioritize respect for citizens’ rights, addressing genuine cases of infractions to promote inclusiveness in policing engagement with the public and to advance peace and security for national development.
In his words, “following the directive of Mr. President, I resuscitated and inaugurated the Police Public Complaints Committee (PPCC) in Abuja on 7th April 2021, to among other things bridge the gap between the police and the populace to engender sustainable confidence and mutual cooperation”.
He said “our gathering here is to sensitize Nigerians on actions to take when their rights are trampled upon by Police officers in the cause of discharging their Constitutional responsibilities.
Dingyadi pointed out that the idea is to establish a permanent structure as a proactive mechanism that will help to effectively nip in the bud civil unrests with their undesirable attendant effects and disruptive tendencies, by providing the populace with the opportunities to channel their grievances on the perceived unethical conducts of Police Personnel to the appropriate quarters for necessary action.
According to him “It is my belief that if the PPCC had been functional, the tragedy which befell the nation some years back would have been averted, as it would have provided an adequate channel through which affected Nigerians could ventilate their grievances on Police brutality and abuse of human rights. This administration is, therefore, determined to ensure that such ugly incidents would never occur again”.
In his goodwill message, the representative of Maigari of Lokoja, Alhaji Aliu Lawan Jiya, (Maiyoki of Lokoja) expressed the delight of the people that the sensitization campaign is coming up at the time insecurity situation calls for periodic review of strategies to deal with all issues.
He said the committee is creating an opportunity for the members of the public to air their views about human rights abuse by the police and urged the committee to consider a preliminary investigation of the anonymous petitions which have no name address to get good results.
In his contribution, the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Special Apostle Dr. Olaniyan Adebayo Emmanuel said the sensitization is apt and urged the people to speak out and voice out on what is not going well with the Nigeria Police and charged the Ministry to listen to the complaints of the policemen.
The President National Youths Council of Nigeria(Kogi State Chapter), Mr. Ogohi Usman congratulated Nigerians for the landmark achievement of the resuscitation and commencement of the Police Public Complaints Committee (PPCC) which he said if it has been on the ground, it would have averted EndSARS protest in the country. He urged the government to take the welfare of the police as paramount and reiterated the support of the youths to the Ministry and the Nigeria Police Force.
