By Fatima Zahra Muhammad
ASHENEWS reports that the Chairman of the Police Service Commission(PSC) says that the relationship between the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) must not be factious.
Arase stated this when he attended the first official town hall meeting with the staff of the Commission.
A statement issued on Sunday by Head, Press and Public Relations at the PSC, ikechukwu Ani said that Arase maintained that the Commission and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) must work in synergy with each other to deliver on their mandate.
“I neither work in a toxic environment nor subscribe to confrontation and belligerence as a leadership approach to getting results; for me, the ultimate is achieving our goals and delivering on our mandate and I believe there are better ways of resolving conflicts without resorting to actions that will embarrass the government and paint both institutions in bad light.
“I do not believe that the powers of the Commission should be subsumed by the NPF(of course it cannot happen under my watch), the truth however remains, we cannot succeed and deliver on our mandate as an agency if we are working at cross purposes with the agency we are over-sighting,” he said.
Arase urged the staff of the PSC to eschew every form of preconceptions, misconceptions, and prejudices against the NPF to de-escalate the conflict and restore trust and friendliness between the two agencies.
He noted that he was not oblivious to the fact that he inherited a lot of liabilities of the Commission ranging from allowances owed to personnel for different duties performed including election duties and duty tour allowances.
Speaking on repositioning the PSC, he noted that the management would prioritize training staff on the rudiments of oversight functions.
“On this note, I reached out and held meetings with UN agencies, Embassies, Civil Society Organisations, and other government organizations requesting training assistance and collaborative support towards capacity building of the staff of the commission.
“A little progress has been made as some Directors were trained virtually in the University of Pretoria, South Africa on oversight Course. Some others will be going to NIPPS, Jos, and Lagos within this month for different courses,” he added.
