The Police Stakeholders Partnership Forum, PSPF, Anambra State has been inaugurated.


The forum, draws its membership from different Stakeholder groups and the civil society, to monitor and report the implementation of Administrative and Criminal Justice Law.


Despite sustained efforts by the Nigerian Police Force to ensure better relationship between the public and the Police, distrust and fear of intimidation remain the hallmarks of their interaction.


Also research by the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, and the Open Society Justice Initiative conducted between 2017 and 2018 in Lagos, Anambra and Oyo States have also shown a gap in the management of criminal justice institutions, speedy dispensation of justice and protection of the rights and interests of the suspects, the defendant and the victims.


Furthermore, lack of man power in the Police and other security agencies has also remained a problem as Statistics has proven that in Nigeria every one policeman cares for up to six hundred persons.


It is therefore based on these premises that RULAAC, Open Society Justice Initiative, and the Nigerian Police Force, NPF, Anambra State Command collaborated to bring in stakeholders in civil society and community based organizations, religious leaders, market leaders, women leaders, traditional rulers, Legal Practitioners, academics and other stakeholders to serve as middlemen and ensure the protection of members of the public.


In a Keynote address titled, “Challenges of Police Compliance with the Anambra State Administration of Criminal Justice Law and the Rule of Police-Citizens Partnership”, the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. John Abang promised total support to the forum and called for more support from the members of Public.


In an opening remark, the Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, Mr. Ikechukwu Nwanguma and a representative of Open Society Justice Initiative, Barrister Stan Ibe highlighted the continuous violation of human rights through administrative inefficiency and said the platform will serve as a mechanism to address some of those rights violations.


In his speech, the Chairman on the occasion, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene who is also the State President, Ohaneze Ndigbo emphasised that the Police must take concrete and visible steps to protect the members of public to attract their trust.


The inauguration also provided members of the forum the platform to address issues concerning police-public relations.

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