The Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative, also known as Partners West African Nigeria (PWAN) has revealed that many citizens are not aware of their rights under the revised police act 2020 and for equity, justice and fairness and responsiveness, citizens ought to have a better understanding of the act.
This was disclosed by PWAN Human Resource Administrative Officer Mr Useni Daniel Benjamin during a town hall meeting on human rights, the police act 2020 and regulations. According to him PWAN is a non-governmental organization dedicated to enhancing citizens’ participation and improving security governance in Nigeria as well as West Africa, which can be achieved through PWAN Rule of Law and Citizens Security Program Areas.
He explained that it is very important for the citizens to understand the revised police act 2020 as a tool that they can use in ensuring justice and equity as well as responsiveness for effective and productive conduct of their affairs. He added that before the revised act, Nigeria was using a police act of 1943, hence the need to understand the recent changes as contained in the 2020 police act.
“We have to commend the federal government of Nigeria for ensuring that the 1943 police act was reviewed to contain provisions that will ensure justice. Therefore we owe it a duty to ourselves and our organization to educate the public on their rights as contained in the act 2020,” he said.
In his presentation Barrister Sani Ammani stated that there are a lot of provisions in the revised act that requires public understanding to avoid a lot of issues concerning their rights adding that one of these is section 36 of the 2020 police act that says a police officer can’t arrezst in place of someone else.
