Chairman, Police Community Relations Committee, PCRC, FCT Command, Prof. Nick Ezeh said Police had not understood what PCRC stands for, thus do not appreciate its works. Ezeh explained that the committee does not ask people for money, adding that if they want to embark on any activity, they write to the appropriate authority. In this interview with Dozie Onwuzuligbo, the chairman pointed out that Police issue fake PCRC identity cards to people for easy passage of Police checkpoints. Excerpts:
Members of the public are not in tune with the activities of Police Community Relations Committee, PCRC; perhaps the reason why the FCT Commissioner of Police has threatened to dissolve the current committee for lack of perform. As the chairman of PCRC, FCT Command, what are you doing in ensuring that various communities under your jurisdiction are actively involved in your activities?
It will be very strange to hear that the commissioner of police threatened to dissolve PCRC because it is not under any police formation; PCRC is a voluntary organisation. So the issue of the CP threatening to dissolve the committee is uncalled for. The constitution of PCRC is different from the Police Act. Be that as it may, PCRC members are volunteers; so it is an organisation formed to aid the police and the community. So they are members of the society who work in consonance with the bye-law of PCRC and they don’t earn salaries. The little grant that is supposed to come to the PCRC from the Ministry of Police Affairs has been stopped. So we don’t know what happened and nobody has talked about it. It will be unfair to say there are no activities. Before the council elections in FCT, PCRC carried out several interactive sessions and workshops to sensitise the public. The major activity of PCRC is to generate information and make sure it is there for the public against obnoxious behaviour by some policemen. We make sure police working within the community are safe. So you can see that the work of PCRC is voluntary. Members of the PCRC fund their activities. We participated in the police week celebration. The problem is that the police have not understood neither do they appreciate the work of PCRC. I don’t know what the police expect from the PCRC. We don’t have offices within their offices; we don’t even have a secretariat. PCRC has no federal secretariat. There is no state command secretariat of PCRC. The committee is in few pockets of individuals and that is what we are trying to re-organise and make it a functional organisation. Right now we are in the process of having the FCT Command bye-law. We have several committees who are knowledgeable in drafting bye-law for the FCT Command. We are planning a workshop in Bwari to sensitise the public on the current security situation in the country so that they know their rights.
Why is it that people don’t come to know about all these seminars and workshops you say the committee organised?
They do because we organised them for members of the public. Before the council election, we were at Kuje to organise a seminar to sensitise the people on the FCT council election. Before that, we were at Wuse 2 and people attended. So we don’t have the kind of resources to put it on NTA because there is no subvention. What we do is based on voluntary activities. So the CP cannot say he wants to dissolve the PCRC; on what ground?
What kind of information do you generate and how do you get such information?
We generate security information through our members at the division. We have members in all the divisions. We have 32 functional divisions in FCT and three area commands. They are all functional. We have given the police several information. Recently, I gave the CP security information on what is happening at the city centre. So we talk almost every day. Two weeks ago, I took my executive and we visited the CP in his office and we discussed. Perhaps, people need to read the constitution of PCRC and read the Police Act; they are two different things. PCRC is community based policing; we generate information and pass it to the police to act on.
Residents of Abuja do not know what PCRC is and what it stands for, not withstanding all your seminars and workshops; what are you doing to abridge this obvious lacuna?
I believe it could be lack of co-operation between the police and the PCRC at the national level. What we are trying to do is to task ourselves to fund our activities. PCRC divisions are manned by executives who work with the divisional police officers. So you have activities generated by the PCRC and we work with the police divisions. Within the command, we work with the CP. The area commands work with the area commanders. That is the organogram. For instance, if police have activities and they invite us we will attend.
So how do you fund some of your activities having said you don’t have the necessary support?
It is through members’ contributions by their monthly dues. When you write to the general public, they don’t seem to understand that we don’t go about asking people for money; what we do is that we solicit for financial assistance if we have a particular need for that. We have gone to AMAC and requested the chairman to donate office secretariat for PCRC. He promised to do it but he has not done anything. We have gone to Kuje, Gwagwalada, Abaji and Bwari to see the chairmen for assistance.
Do you think the police act on the security information you pass to them?
Well, we generate information through our members and then pass it across. If they do act on them I don’t know because there is no feedback mechanism. Recently, I called and told the CP that the whole place in Maitama was invaded by miscreants; people that look haggard and you know they are not from this zone and they are all over the city. He said yes they are aware and have discussed it with the FCT minister, that it is not their responsibility to go and start picking these miscreants. But I told him to act for security implications. He was grateful and promised to relay it to them. If he had gone and discussed it with the minister, he may not get back to us and say this is what we have discussed; but if there is any need for them to call us and say we need such information, then they will get back to us.
Besides the council chairmen you said you have met for support, have you made any attempt to seek the assistance of members of the National Assembly?
We have written to them severally in all our activities; most of them don’t attend. The last one was at Kuje where the senator sent in a representative. What we do as a command is that when we go to divisions, we will present the need of the division to the area. Like when we went to Gwagwalada, we made them to understand that Gwagwalada is like the entry point and a lot of security activities are needed. We needed an office where people can come and deliver information. There is something we have noticed; a lot of people don’t feel free going to the police station either to give information or whatever; but they can go to offices and drop such information. So we have appealed to the council chairmen to give us small space within the busy area in the city centre. There are other things we want to do; we want to use it to create a public pay toilet; an avenue for people to come in and go out so that they can come and relay vital information to us. It will be manned by our members and it will serve as environmental activities to the area council and still generate information for that division. We don’t ask people to give us money; if we want to embark on any activity like the upcoming event at Bwari, we write to the appropriate authority.
What is PCRC doing in terms of building public trust and confidence, especially now the country is facing serious security challenges?
What we are doing is that we understand clearly that every PCRC member leaves in a society; they are part of the community. So the engagement of the public and the police is embedded in the PCRC activities. So the PCRC is there to give the public confidence about the police and then to make the police understand the security needs of the society. People don’t expect us to go about donating money and buying equipment for the police.
Have you made any efforts to know why the little subvention to the committee was stopped?
We will take step but the issue is that we are at the state level. It is supposed to be at the national level. The office of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, and the national executive of PCRC are in the position to work it out, but they are not visible. So what we are trying to do is to re-organise the PCRC in the FCT Command. We are also doing it at the divisional levels. Last time they called me from the office of the IGP and were asking me the name of the national chairman of PCRC. I have a secretariat in my office dedicated to PCRC. It is not being paid for by PCRC; it is my personal contribution. In addition to their time, skill and resources PCRC members cannot afford to bring extra money.
There is this allegation that most of your members are only interested in the PCRC identity card for easy passage at police checkpoints; what is your take on that?
It is not true. The fact is that PCRC members documented in the FCT have a file which comes from a police division, but it is not out of place for members of the public to see PCRC identity cards with people. Some collect it from the Force Headquarters, FHQ while some from the police commands and the divisional police officers. These people are not members of PCRC. For the fact that they have identity card, we are not in control of whom the police issue PCRC identity card. The ones we issue have files and attached to a particular police division, but the ones police issue are not documented. Sometimes they issue to contractors.
According to your bye-law, do the police have the right to issue PCRC identity card?
Police do not have the right to issue any identity card. In Nigeria, the law enforcement agencies flaunt the law with impunity. Unfortunately, we don’t have full control on who has the PCRC identity card. We have full control on the people we issue the identity card. Those people police issue the identity cards are the ones who use the PCRC identity card to pass police checkpoints. For us to issue you an identity card you must have a source of livelihood and we must know the division the person comes from. So we have checks and balances. Most of the PCRC identity cards you see are fake. We have asked police to arrest anybody with such identity card to come and prove his membership.