- As Buhari orders EFCC to return N10bn to NBC
The Complaint Response Unit of the Nigeria Police Force has resolved 324 cases out of a total of 405 complaints made against the police by members of the public between July 1 and September 30, 2016.
Fifty-one cases reported during the period were found to be false while 30 cases are pending, a report released on Thursday in Abuja by the Officer in charge of the CRU, Acting ACP Abayomi Shogunle, stated.
The CRU said it recovered N2.75m bribe from an Assistant Commissioner of Police, serving in one of the state commands in the South-East, after a complaint was made to the unit through a telephone call.
The police stated that the money was recovered from the ACP after the case was referred to the X-Squad for necessary action in line with the directive by the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, that the X-Squad be integrated into the CRU responding agents.
Findings indicated that the errant senior officer had been referred to the Police Service Commission for disciplinary action.
The report stated, “Record shows that the sum of N2.750m bribe was recovered from an Assistant Commissioner of Police, serving in one of the state commands after a complaint was made to the CRU through a telephone call.
“Necessary disciplinary procedures are ongoing against the officer involved in the unacceptable conduct just as the suspect arrested in respect of the case, upon which the bribe money was collected, has since been handed over to the relevant government agency for prosecution for the offence.”
The CRU report stated that Rivers State Police Command topped the state ranking with a total number of 78 cases followed by Lagos with 72 cases and the Federal Capital Territory with 48 cases.
The third quarter report further shows that over half of the complaints against the police came from four state commands – Rivers, Lagos, FCT and Anambra – which accounted for 55.06 per cent of complaints during the period under review.
No single complaint was reported against the police in six state commands – Bauchi, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Osun and Sokoto.
“Kebbi State remains the only command with no complaint made against the police since the inception of the CRU in November, 2015,” it stated.
The CRU said professional misconduct was the leading complaint against police officers with 154 entries followed by demands for money for bail with 144 entries.
It added that complaints were received via telephone calls (294 cases); WhatsApp (55); Twitter (20); email (19); Facebook (six); SMS (two); BBM (one); and eight cases reported via petitions and media publications.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the return of N10bn seized from the National Broadcasting Commission by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The Director-General of NBC, Mallam Is’haq Kawu, said this in Abuja on Thursday at a press conference to announce the 20th edition of Africa Broadcasting Conference and Exhibition coming up in Abuja next week.
The money is part of the funds realised by the NBC from the controversial sale of frequency to MTN Nigeria Communications Limited.
The funds had been a subject of probe by the EFCC following allegation that the broadcast regulatory agency failed to remit it to the Treasury Single Account at the time prescribed by the Federal Government.
The NBC had claimed that the funds were meant for projects being executed for the country’s migration to digital broadcasting.
Kawu said the funds would be channelled towards projects and programmes aimed at achieving the transition to digital broadcasting for which a deadline of June 2017 had been set.
He added that the NBC was planning to establish a content development for the broadcast industry as the era of digitisation was expected to create immense need for content development as a result of multiple channels to be witnessed in the new era.
The NBC boss said, “We are going to assist a lot of young people to get finances for the production of their contents. We are thinking in terms of content development fund within the NBC and the NBC also provides opportunity for young content providers.”
According to Kawu, a 10 per cent increase in the digitisation of the broadcast industry is predicted to create one million new jobs.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has given assurance that the digital switchover from analogue television would be achieved in the Federal Capital Territory before the end of the year.
Mohammed gave the assurance after a guided facility tour of Pinnacle Communication Limited – the licensed signal distributor of the DSO in the FCT and Trefonics, a manufacturer of Set-Top-Boxes.
He said it was imperative to ascertain the level of preparation of all the stakeholders in order to ensure a successful roll-out in Abuja.
The minister said, “We are very much on track but I think it’s important to understand what the Digital Switch Over entails. It entails that all the component actors be ready.”
He expressed satisfaction with the signal distributor as well as the Set-Top-Box manufacturer, adding that they were on track to meeting the switch over date.
Punch
