A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the United Global Resolve For Peace (UGRFP), on Saturday called for the empowerment of the Police Service Commission (PSC) to enable it to carry out the necessary reforms in the Nigeria police.
Mr Shalom Olaseni, Executive Director, UGRFP, made the call in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday.
Olaseni said the call had become necessary following protests across the country for the scrapping or total reform of Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) and other police tactical units.
He stated that an independent PSC with full disciplinary responsibilities of police officers was all that the country needed to tackle the challenges of policing in Nigeria.
“The public protest have drawn solidarity and rallying calls from all over the world with the professionalism of the Nigeria Police Force called into question with focus on the disciplinary issues that have crippled the agency.
“The Police Service Commission was set-up as a civilian body to review, discipline and sanction errant officers while operating a reward system for good cops in a bid to engender a culture of professionalism and integrity on the job.
“Regrettably, the political will to make the Commission function at its barest minimum has been lacking thus setting it up for systematic ruin.
“The consequence of said ruin has crystallised into the boldness of errant officers whose unlawful actions go without reproach or sanction.
“The systemic rot the public now see and complain of is directly linked with the non-efficacy of the commission brought on by hierarchical issues that have divided loyalty to the Commission with the Police Force.
“Having identified areas for advocacy and reform, UGRFP had meetings with stakeholders, hierarchy of PSC and the Nigeria Police aimed at finding resolutions to the enduring challenge of effective policing and disciplinary measures against errant officers,” Olaseni said.
He however, urged protesters to continue to be orderly and peaceful in their #EndSARS protest, as violence had never been an option in the exercise of their rights to association and assembly.