Progress Abisola
No fewer than 543 cases of human right abuses have been received in Ekiti State in the last one year.
The Commissioner in charge of Ekiti state office of the Public Complaints Commission (PCC),Mr Kayode Bamisile disclosed this on Tuesday while addressing newsmen in Ado Ekiti .
Bamisile said “160 of the cases have been resolved with victims getting adequate compensations from defaulters, while a total of 383 are still being resolved by the commission”
He added that some of the cases include: breach of contracts, wrongful dismissal from places of works, land disputes, marital crises, delay or withholding of payment of retirees’ benefits, arbitrary official punishment and witch-hunting, arbitrary electricity billing , among others.
He said though the federal government agency was not saddled with the responsibility of handling land and marital issues, but clarified that these were being handled on humanitarian ground.
“We are striving hard to sustain our fight against all forms of administrative injustices in accordance with our mandate.
“As at October 2021, we have received a total of 543 cases and out of these, 160 have been successfully closed, leaving a total of 383 pending before the commission”.
Bamisile said the PCC is partnering agencies like the judiciary, Immigration, police, Nigeria Correctional Services, Department of State Services, media organisations and other public and private institutions to fight all forms of administrative injustices in the state.
He said the office, which operates under presidency, had also entered into strong synergy with the traditional leaders on how to reduce land disputes that are fondly rearing their ugly heads and threatening peaceful coexistence in the communities.
“Our mandate is to deal with cases of administrative injustice from the public and private sectors. We are working with the media organisations to raise the awareness of Nigerians that this office was established to fight for Nigerians and defend their rights .
“As part of our strategies, we have visited all our offices across the 16 local governments and tasked them on the need to work hard and let the people at the grassroots understand what we stand for.
“We have also visited the traditional rulers , because they are the ones in charge of all the towns. They can be good partners in settling some of our cases and the PCC is ready to tap from their wealth of experience.
” Whatever case that is brought before us is handled dispassionately without any financial burden to the victims. Ours is to investigate and get justice for whoever rights was violated, so that we can have a stable and peaceful society.
“The PCC is Nigeria’s ombudsman. They settle rifts and bring succour to the underprivileged. We appeal to the members of the society to make good use of PCC to create a stable society where law and order can be deeply rooted without hindrance”.