RULAAC ADVOCATES EFFECTIVE PUBLIC COMPLAINT MECHANISM TO BOOST TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY IN POLICING

The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has called for effective public complaint measures to enhance of the police. The Executive Director of RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwangwuma, said such measures would engender transparency, fairness and independence of the police institution, and ensure timely feedback for police policy formulation. Nwanguma made the call in a welcome address at a town hall meeting on human rights, police accountability and administration of criminal justice in Lagos, which was delivered on his behalf by Samuel Akpulogu. He noted that the town hall meeting was in line with the commitment of RULAAC to foster dialogue in line with the objectives of the Police Stakeholders Accountability Forum, established in 2018, which encompasses strengthening stakeholders’ engagement, building capacity of law enforcement and promoting human rights awareness.  With funding from International Idea – an international nonprofit organisation, RULAAC is working in partnership with other groups and government institutions to deepen the implementation of the Criminal Justice Administration Law in Lagos State. The Coordinator of the Lagos State Stakeholders Forun on Police Accountability, Felicita Igbogun-Brai, declared that the platform was back in action to drive stakeholders’ engagement on justice and law enforcement issues.  In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the town hall meeting, Malachy Ugwummadu, commended RULAAC for seeking to deepen the legislative framework to address the defective structure and operations of the policing institution, without which he said would lead to chaos.