The National Economic Council (NEC) says officers indicted
by the judicial panels set up to probe police brutality will face prosecution.
The federal government had directed states to set up
judicial panels of inquiry into allegations of human rights violations
involving police officers, following the #EndSARS protests in October 2020.
The NEC, which is chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo,
is made up of all the governors and representatives of the federal government.
According to a statement issued by Laolu Akande,
spokesperson to the vice-president, at a meeting held on Friday, NEC also said
the federal government and states will set up modalities for the settlement of
compensations awarded to victims of police brutality.
“It may be recalled that following the October 2020 #EndSARS
protests, in furtherance of resolution of NEC, 28 States and the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT) had set up Judicial Panels/Commissions of Inquiry
(Panels) to investigate allegations of violations of human rights levied
against members of the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies,
especially members of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS),” the
statement reads.
“The 28 States that set up these Panels were Abia, Adamawa,
Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo,
Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun,
Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, and Taraba.
“Out of the 28 States, 11 States (Abia, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe,
Kwara, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, and Rivers) have submitted their
final reports to Council; with Lagos, set to finalise its sittings on 19th
October 2021, submitting an interim report. Governors of other States including
Delta and Ebonyi at today’s meeting also indicated that their reports would be
submitted soon.
“Following deliberations on the recommendations of the
panels, NEC agreed/resolved as follows, (and this applies to all the States and
FCT that set up the panels):
“Each State, in collaboration with the Federal Government,
shall establish modalities for the settlement of all monetary compensations
awarded by the Panels. Already, as resolved by NEC, a number of States have set
up Victims Compensation Funds, from which several victims have already received
payments of sums awarded to them by the panels.
“Council directed State Governors to immediately forward
copies of final reports of the panels to their Attorneys-General for prompt
arraignment and prosecution of all indicted persons.
“Where incidents in the reports relate to matters of
discipline, in addition to prosecution, NEC urged the Nigeria Police Force to
take disciplinary action on the affected officers in line with the provisions
of the Police Act 2020.”
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