- As Agba says trust should be rebuilt in a sustsinable manner
The federal government has commenced a police-citizens’ conversation series to repair the damaged relationship between the police and citizens.
It is focused on how trust can be rebuilt. The dialogue programme would be held in the six geo-political zones of the country.
The federal government launched the first edition of the national dialogue on Thursday in Abuja as part of a series of activities to mark the 2021 Open Government Partnership (OGP) week.
The theme of the week is “Re-engineering Government, Institutions and Society for Transparency, Accountability and Inclusive Citizens Participation.”
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba said the ugly experience of the infamous #EndSARS protests of 2020 gave reasons to go beyond meeting the demands of the protesters, to rebuilding trust in a sustainable manner.
The interactive session between the citizens and the police is expected to provide an opportunity for the process of rebuilding mutual healing and respect.
Stakeholders at the dialogue acknowledged there was a need to improve the condition of the police stations by giving citizens an opportunity to inspect the conditions of the stations and make recommendations to the government on improving the welfare of police officers and conditions of the stations.
Chief Operations Officer, Miheruan Economic Dummit Group, NESG, and non-state actors of OGP National Steering Committee, NSC co-chair, Dr Tayo Aduloju said the dialogue should be able to answer certain questions including that of accountability and transparency that “define the quality of oversight the police have and the question of redress.”
He said there should be a good redress mechanism process for citizens to address injustices by police officers.
Read him: “Legitimacy. Here, we must ask: what level of confidence does the local populations have in the police force to maintain law and order”
He called on stakeholders including civil society members to give voice to the people.
According to him: “We must also ask the question of professionalism by the rank and file. Let there be some kind of resources in the police to be able to demand professionalism, ethics, standards and capabilities from the police force to respond to the multifarious dimensions of security threats.”
Aduloju continued: “We will like to see coordination and control of small arms as it is a driver of some of the insecurity challenges, we are seeing.
“This process will allow citizens impute to be harvested. If we achieve this with adequate budgeting for the Police and the right Police reforms, the future will be bright for Nigeria and Nigerians.”
Also, minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, said the move had enormous benefits because it involved those potentially affected by government’s decision.
“It will promote sustainable decisions and policies by recognizing and communicating the needs of the citizens and decision makers,” he stated.
The Youth and Sports minister also said the dialogue series provided an opportunity for government and civil society reformers to make government more transparent, participatory and accountable.
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
