The Cleen Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has called for a centralised complaint platform on human rights violations in Nigeria to speed up the justice system.
Mr. Nnamdi Odo, the Programmes Officer, Cleen Foundation, said this at the Human Rights Coordination Meeting for Oversight Agencies in Nigeria on Friday in Abuja.
Odo said that there were delays in the administration of justice in cases of human rights violations due to a lack of synergy amongst law enforcement agencies.
“We commend the law enforcement agencies on their improvement in creating digital platforms to handle complaints about violations.
“However, more is expected of the agencies, especially in providing vital information to the public on complaint procedures and progress levels.
“We are happy that, as agencies, you have individual platforms; however, what we are looking for is something that will bring in synergy amongst the agencies.
“So that you are able to maximize the resources that you have, which are time and money,” he said.
Odo said that with a centralised system, once a complaint is handled by the police, there may be no need for another enforcement agency to pick up the same complaint or case.
He lauded various agencies for their commitment to protecting human rights and to addressing and curbing human rights violations, especially by law enforcement agents.
CSP Almustapha Sani, the Head of Compliant Response, Nigeria Police Force, said that the police had created a platform for members of the public to report violations without physically approaching the police.
He said this mechanism was put in place to address compliant violations as well as protect the complainants.
“The Nigeria Police Force has created platforms that members of the public may not have to physically contact the police—platforms like social media, phone calls, SMS, and emails to report directly.
“We have a lot of collaboration internally and externally that deals with human rights violations; we have the provost Marshall office, the Force secretary office, and the IGP monitoring team
“All these teams have the mandate to solve these issues, and our external partners like the Human Rights Commission, the Cleen Foundation, CSOs, and international donors also handle these issues,” he said.
He said that there was a department of police that monitored human rights violations, especially videos uploaded on social media by citizens, and took necessary action on the cases.
He said that the police public relations department was available for direct complaints to the office of the Inspector General of Police.
He said that the police was committed to ensuring the dignity of citizens and advised members of the public to explore all means of lodging complaints when their rights had been violated by officers of the police.(NAN)
