Relieve police of power to prosecute, group urges

The deputy director of the foundation, Oluwakemi Okendo, made the call in Maiduguri during a one-day capacity building training on human right and policing for officers and men of the Nigerian police force, Borno command, organised by the foundation in collaboration with the German embassy. According to her, trained lawyers should be allowed to handle […]

The deputy director of the foundation, Oluwakemi Okendo, made the call in Maiduguri during a one-day capacity building training on human right and policing for officers and men of the Nigerian police force, Borno command, organised by the foundation in collaboration with the German embassy.

According to her, trained lawyers should be allowed to handle criminal investigations to ensure a speedy dispensation of justice urging the federal government to take the reform in justice system seriously and stop paying lips service to the reform agenda.

She lamented the non-availability of data base of people arrested for criminal offence, saying the capacity of the police should be driven by technology.

Okendo said the aims of the training were to build the capacity of the participating police officers by looking at the various component of policing.

“We all will agree the Nigeria police force has been faced with lot of challenges from inception. As a colonial agency which was used as an instrument of force and coercion, the long term military rule in the country further challenged the police and has made the public confidence in the police very low,’’ she said.

She said a similar training workshop on human rights had been organised for police officers in Plateau, Kano, and the Federal Capital Police Command in the last seven months, adding that Borno State was the last place where such training was being held to commemorate the International Human Rights Day.