Ministry of Police Affairs launches Police Public Complaint Committee sensitisation campaign for North East

From David Kuvie Bauchi

Minister of Police Affairs, Dr Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, has appealed to the people of the North East subregion to support the ministry’s sensitisation campaign on Police Public Complaints Committee(PPCC) to redeem the image of the police.

The minister said the initiative was parts of efforts to reform the police to adequately address issues of welfare, professionalism and modernisation to meet global standards.

Dingyadi made the call on Thursday while presenting a keynote address at the Command Guest Inn, Bauchi, in continuation of the Ministry of Police Affairs’ sensitization campaign taking place in the six geo-political zones across Nigeria.

The Minister, who was represented by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 12, Adamu Audu Madaki, opined that the sensitisation campaigns would help build cooperation between citizens and the Police to enable the police perform its statutory duties of ensuring safety and maintenance of law and order.

“The enormous benefits of deepening realization of systematic shift from state centred security approach to collective security paradigm, through enhanced welfare, police reforms, rebuilding of critical policing infrastructure to meet current security concerns, underscores the need for collective support for our policing system in Nigeria,” the minister said.

“Governments’ resolve to entrench Community Policing through collaboration with the community, adherence to the rule of law and respect for human rights necessitated the resuscitation of PPCC in 2019. Expectedly, this will promote elimination of apathy and discourage resort to self-help over acts of infraction by a few non-conformist personnel of the Nigeria Police.

He said the PPCC is serving as additional layers adding that the inauguration of the resuscitated PPCC on 7th April, 2021, is sequel to President Buhari’s directive to breach gaps between populace and the police, to elicit confidence and mutual cooperation.

“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, is created as a specialized institution to deal strictly with public complaints against Police Infractions,” the Minister said.

He explained further that the sensitisation campaigns were being organized to enlighten the people of the north east subregion which comprised Yobe, Gombe, Borno, Adamawa, and Bauchi States on measures taken by government to enhance police-public relations in Nigeria.

In a goodwill message, Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Umar Mamma Sanda, said the sensitisation campaign would enhance and enrich accountability in the country’s policing system.

Sanda praised President Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, for their unrelenting efforts in ensuring an absolute drive towards reforming of the Police Force to conform to international standards and global best practices.

“This is manifested in the recent successes recorded by the Nigeria Police force in dealing with disciplinary-related matters such as; extortion, abuse of power, corruption and other unprofessional conduct of officers and men of the force while dealing with members of the public,” he said.

“This is what informed the fact that policemen and their sympathizers have to calibrate the repercussion of their actions first when trying to indulged themselves in unprofessional conduct.

“There is no gain saying the fact that the Bauchi State Police Command in particular is very determined to tackling public complaint matters and other legitimate grievances without leaving any stone unturned”