The Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammed Maigari Dingyadi, Wednesday in Abuja inaugurated the Police Public Complaints Committee, asking aggrieved Nigerians to report erring police officers to it.
Dingyadi said the committee would serve as a permanent structure that would help curb civil unrests and given Nigerians the opportunity to channel their grievances on the misconduct of police personnel.
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The committee comprises the Ministry of Police Affairs, the Police Service Commission, the Ministry of Justice, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Intelligence Agency, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Security, the Police Community Relations Committee and CLEEN Foundation.
Dingyadi added, “Once the PPCC becomes operational, I’ll 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 function and thereby recognize it as a proper avenue to channel their complaints against police personnel.”
The minister charged the committtee to decentralize its structure to give Nigerians easy access to it by considering opening channels of communication at all local government headquarters.
He said the committee was designed to have a sub-committee to be known as special investigation unit that would be made up of professionals.
Earlier, the permanent secretary, Temitope Fashedemi, had said: “Police Public Complaints Committee is an additional layer for the protection of people’s rights whenever there seems to be an infringement on these rights or abuse of power, particularly by the police personnel in the discharge of their duties.”
