By Okechukwu Nwanguma
One issue that has been of great concern to us at Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) is the unduly long period of time it takes for a petition or letter addressed to police authorities, particularly State and Zonal Commands and the Force Headquarters, to get approval for timely and necessary action.
In many cases, the subject matters of such petitions or letters require urgency in order to avert escalation of situations or to save lives.
But in many cases, it takes as long as two to three months before a petition or letter addressed to many a State Command CP or Zonal AIG, and more disturbingly, the IGP, to get approval and directed to appropriate quarters for needed action
Consequently, for instance, communal disputes or other situations that could have been nipped in the bud before they escalated to violence and bloodshed actually do escalate and lives are lost squarely because petitions urging actions to prevent further escalation were either not promptly responded to or were not even responded to at all.
I recall some years back, in my days at the Civil Liberties Organisation when Solomon Arase was Principal Staff Officer to successive IGP’s, letters addressed to the IGP would not only be acted upon promptly, but the petitioner will also receive acknowledgement within one week
What has happened to the Nigeria Police that this is no longer the case?
How else can the Police serve the people if they cannot even as much as attend to communications and respond promptly to petitions and complaints to resolve matters?
Okechukwu Nwanguma is the Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC)
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