PSC Says Promotion Of Police Officers With Record Of Human Rights Abuses Will Be Withheld

By Ayodele Oni

Chairman of the Police Service Commission, (PSC) Solomon Araze has revealed effort of the commission to put an end to abuse of human rights of the citizens by the police.

He was receiving two delegations from the United States of America, (USA) and the United Kingdom, that (UK) were at the Corporate Headquarters of the PSC in Abuja on Thursday.

The delegations also visited the Commission’s newly established Compliance Monitoring Unit (CMU), a tracking platform on public complaints against serving Nigeria Police Officers, and promised to assist the Commission drastically to reduce human rights abuses by the Police.

This was contained in a statement by Ikechukwu Ani, Head of Press and Public Relations of the Commission.

The United States Delegation was led by Jason A. Smith, Director International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, while Chris Grimson of the National Agency on Anti- Kidnap and Extortion Unit, (AKEU) visited on behalf of the United Kingdom.

The Commission Chairman told the Visitors that what Nigerians want is a responsible Police Force that would respect the human rights of the citizenry.

Dr. Arase said the Commission decided to set up the Compliance Monitoring Unit to ensure that the rights of the citizens are protected and offending Police Officers sanctioned for misconduct.

He told his visitors that the leadership of the Commission and the Police are united in the fight to stamp out human rights abuses in the Country.

The PSC Chairman assured his visitors that there would be no conflict between the Commission and the Police Management on the operations of the Compliance Monitoring Unit.

He, however, frowned at pre-trial detentions by the Police, noting that the Commission will no longer tolerate detentions beyond what the law provides for.

He declared that the Commission wants to track complaints against Police, stressing that any Officer who has pending human rights cases will not be cleared for promotions or postings.

“Any Officer who has human rights issues not conclusively investigated by the Police Complaints Unit will be stepped down from promotion and postings.”

He called for assistance in the provision of more systems for the CMU as the Commission anticipates several complaints against the Police as the Unit takes shape.

Dr. Smith, leader of the US delegation said they are in Nigeria to assist strengthen the rule of law and especially the Police.

He noted that PSC is a key stakeholder in their project to strengthen the rule of law in Nigeria and promised to work with the Commission to achieve this .

Mr. Grimson of the National Crime Agency of the British High Commission promised to partner with the Commission in the training of the personnel of the Nigeria Police.

He spoke on intelligence sharing, proper investigation so as to break down barriers between the Police and other security agencies in the country.