The Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Dingyadi, Thursday, inaugurated the Police Public Complaints Committee (PPCC) to handle complaints against police officers and men.
Inaugurating the committee at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja, Dingyadi said the committee was part of efforts to avert any further civil unrest stemming from misconduct of police personnel as experienced during the #EndSARS protest that rocked the country in 2020.
He said the committee was designed as a permanent structure that would prevent civil unrest with its concomitant effects and disruptive tendencies by providing the populace with the opportunity to channel their grievances on the misconduct of police personnel to the appropriate quarters for necessary action.
“The PPCC is created as a specialised institution to deal strictly with public complaints against police personnel.
“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,” he said.
According to the minister, “It is obvious that the current habit of the public lodging complaints against police personnel at police stations or at various police commands has not given the desired solutions to aggrieved Nigerians.”
The minister said the commission was designed to have a sub-committee to be known as a special investigation unit made up of professionals charged with the responsibility of in-depth analysis and thorough investigation of cases brought before it and proffer recommendations.
The membership of the committee is drawn from the Ministry of Police Affairs, Police Service Commission, Ministry of Justice, National Human Rights Commission, a Non-Governmental Organisation, CLEEN Foundation, and Nigerian Police Force.
Other members include Police Community Relations Committee, Department of State Services and the Police Inspectorate Department (Secretariat).
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. Temitope Fashedemi, said: “We are here today to turn the page after the sad event of #EndSARS protest that rocked the country late last year. The inauguration of the PPCC is in furtherance to government’s promise to ensure that more platforms are made available for citizen’s to complain against overzealous police officers.
“Thus, our gathering here today is an attempt to revamp a public institution that is capable of ensuring the protection of the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.
“The Nigeria Police as well as all institutions are to serve the people. Therefore, those who are manning public institutions and are paid with public funds are duty bound to ensure that they operate within the ambit of the law and guided by approved riles of engagement.”
