The Chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr. Solomon Arase, has again pledged to resolve knotty issues between the police and the Commission and restore peace.

Arase made the disclosure during a meeting with civil society groups at the Corporate Headquarters of the commission in Jabi, Abuja.

According to spokesman of the commission, Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, the Consultative Meeting between Arase and stakeholders in the security sector continued yesterday.

Ani said: “The PSC Chairman hosted civil society organisations at the Corporate Headquarters of the Commission in Jabi, Abuja where he pledged to bequeath to Nigeria and Nigerians a Police Force of our dreams and aspirations; able and willing to provide services to the Nigerian people in the most transparent, responsible and responsive manner.

“He assured the members of the group that being a former police officer would not impede on his sense of justice, fairness and equity, adding that he will surely leave his footprints in sands of time and grow a Police Force that is mentally mobile.

“Dr. Arase noted that his appointment as the Chairman of the Commission came at a critical time in ‘our national life, when the Commission and the Nigeria Police Force have engaged in a seemingly intractable disputation over roles and powers, which regrettably compounded and degenerated into series of litigations.

“He said the embarrassing scenario was informed and fuelled by preconceptions, misconceptions and prejudices against each other, founded on mutual distrust and suspicion.”

According to him, “in the raging disconcertment and belligerency, it is the Nigerian people that suffer as neither PSC nor NPF can function effectively in delivering on its mandate without the support and cooperation of the other, especially when both institutions that are supposed to be mutually reinforcing are now at daggers drawn.”

He said Arase believes that his appointment as the chairman of the Commission by the President was not accidental, “but rather borne out of his conscious effort to bring about the required peace, cordiality and harmony between these two critical institutions of government.”

Ani quoted him as further saying: “I set out with a vision and mission to de-escalate and contain the raging conflict, douse the disquiet and restore peace, understanding and cooperation between the two institutions necessary for my actualisation of Security Sector Reforms (SSR) in Nigeria.”

He said that Arase noted that this was anchored on the fact that synergy produces greater results and success in the attainment of institutional goals.

“Peace is essential for success and growth of any institution towards the attainment of its mandate. The pursuit of peace does not compel us to compromise and undermine our integrity as an oversight agency over the Nigeria Police,” Arase stressed.

He confirmed that peace was being restored and trust being built “between PSC and NPF, “and I can assure you that in no distant time, all the knotty issues which occasioned the conflict will be amicably resolved in a win-win situation for both institutions.”

On the various problems facing police and policing in Nigeria, the PSC chairman stated that the only solution would be the collective intervention, collaboration and participation of all stakeholders in the Security Sector Reform.

Arase noted that the PSC could not effectively deliver on its mandate without the corresponding support of the civil society organisations. These supports and assistance, he said, could come in form of training and retraining programmes of both personnel of the PSC and NPF “as well as helping us with logistics that will aid in carrying out our functions.”

“The Police Force is ours; it is not impossible to build a Police Force of our aspirations. It only requires involvement, participation, collaboration, assistance and support. Please get involved,” Arase pleaded with the CSOs.

In her remarks, Kemi Okenyodo of PWAN, one of the CSOs, said the appointment of Arase was a welcome development especially within the Society and its members.

She however urged him to build a strong professional external oversight body equipped with the required capacity to hold the police accountable for its actions.