‘Some provisions in PCC Act challenging for operations’
Barrister Chille W. Igbawua is the Chief Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission (PCC). In this interview, he talked about the responsibilities and expectations of the commission recently rejuvenated by the National Assembly. Excerpts:
As the new Chief Commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission, how do you intend to handle the multitude of cases across the country?
Before taking up this job, I was well grounded for the task ahead. I am a lawyer, technocrat, administrator and parliamentarian.
The biggest problem the commission has is the issue of visibility. This is a commission that was established 43 years ago and if we look at the comparative knowledge among Nigerians it is very low because it is expected that by now we should be known much more. Even agencies that were established several years later are much more known than the PCC. So we have a duty now to make sure we get to the public. For a population close to 200 million and we are treating less than 10 million petitions in a year means that we are not having much patronage by the public.
What are the challenges facing the commission?
Certainly, there is handicap of funding. The funding over the years hasn’t been the best. As a matter of fact after our inauguration, the National Assembly through the Senate president promised to improve on the funding of the institution to enable us to be better placed to perform our functions. And when the 2018 budget was implemented, we are looking forward to better funding of the commission.
The other limitation is the Act establishing the commission. An act that old certainly has limitations. The sanctions are very loose because the amounts that are there for penalties are irrelevant, nobody would be deterred. You can imagine somebody could offend 20 times and pay off the sanctions. If we can get the Act amended, it is not easy because the Act is part of the Constitution; this institution is a constitutional institution so the Act must undergo the procedure.
What measures will you put in place to ensure speedy dispensation of justice for the
citizenry?
The commission under my watch will maintain open door policy and ensure speedy dispensation of justice. The commission may have areas of failure in the past but under my watch, intransigence from any individual no matter how highly placed in the society will not be tolerated.
This commission is a foremost anti-corruption agency, an ombudsman, that deals with administrative corruption. Any person who is summoned by the commission shall appear and we will apply the full force of the law to ensure that people who come to us are given justice, firmly and fairly.
The act establishing this commission has some hidden powers, which if not well read, you may think they are just not there, making the commission look as if it cannot bite. We will step up awareness campaign to deepen the understanding of the commission and its activities by the people and more attention would be shifted to administrative corruption, which is more devastating than financial corruption.
We shall make sure that areas that were not understood are understood henceforth and we shall have a clear programme of sensitization for the citizens. The commission has a very wide scope; it protects both citizens of Nigeria and foreigners that reside in Nigeria. And one thing I can assure the public is that we shall receive and treat all complaints assiduously and complaints can be against any public officer or officials of companies registered under the Company Act.
We have had issues where people were invited by the commission to appear and they refused to appear either by negligence or whatever reason. We shall build on the Act establishing this commission. There are sanctions which we can apply and there are provisions to compel attendance. There are areas in the Act which are lacking as identified by the President of the Senate. We shall quickly engage the National Assembly to ensure that the Act is amended to make the commission a more productive institution to the citizenry.
The commission remains the only statutory agency empowered by law to adjudicate on public complaints. I have listened to radio programmes which seem to deal with these issues. But what people must understand is that this is a statutory body, which has powers to enforce decisions and this commission has branches in all the states of the federation and is expected to have offices in all LGAs in the federation.
We shall also work towards technological improvements, to ensure that we have modern ways by which complaints can be lodged. It wouldn’t require people to come all the time. We shall put in place those technological measures that will aid citizens to complain without having to travel long distances. Income and Allied
What do you intend to do about pending cases and those found culpable?
I can assure that all pending cases will be treated promptly. Apart from public officers who have immunity, no other person is beyond the reach of this commission. Our reach is far and we have statutory powers to ensure our decisions are enforced.
If we invite you and you refuse to come, it is criminal because you are obstructing the course of justice. The law is in unison; we are not just tied to the PCC Act but there are ancillary acts that may arise in the course of our operations. We are not going to treat complaints with kid gloves. We shall make sure justice is done to everyone that comes to us.