Concerened with human roght abuses in the country, the Police Service Commission Wednesday pledged to collaborate with the Nigerian Office of Amnesty International to reduce such cases.
Chairman of the commission, Alhaji Musiliu Smith, retd, conveyed the commission’s position when he received in audience a delegation from the Nigerian office of the agency.
Smith told the visiting delegation that the commission had already started work on the cases, but requested the agency to carry the commission along in its findings before such reports were released.
He said the commission had since set a new agenda for the Nigeria Police which hopefully would ensure that operations of the Police would, henceforth, respect human rights and be in accordance with laid down rules.
Smith noted that the commission has received a lot of complaints on Police misconduct, but promised that it would ensure that such complaints would be treated speedily with all the fairness they deserved.
He drew the attention of the agency to the state of Nigerian prisons, with a view to assisting the authorities in ensuring proper reformation of inmates so that the incidence of re-cycling of released prisoners back into crime could be minimised.
Leader of delegation and Director, Amnesty International, Nigerian Office, Osai Ojigho, told the PSC chairman that they were in his office to engage the commission in respect of the reform in the Nigeria Police Force, especially Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, and other legislative reforms.
Ojigho pointed out that they were around to share their findings regarding certain abuses and violations of human rights by the Officers of the Nigeria Police Force.
A statement by Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations, said she expressed the happiness of the agency to note that SARS was currently undergoing reform.
According to Ojigho, “we are currently documenting cases involving SARS operatives since 2016.”
She further suggested the need for a comprehensive law against excessive use of force and the amendment of the Force Order to reflect international standard.
