FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said he was glad that he established the Federal Public Complaints Commission (FPCC) when he was the Military Head of State.
The FPCC, which metamorphosed into the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), was established by Decree 31 of 1975 by the Supreme Military Council when Obasanjo was the Head of State.
Obasanjo, who spoke when Mrs. Oluyemisi Somorin-Dawodu, the Commission’s Commissioner in Ogun State, paid him a courtesy visit at his Presidential Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, said that the motive to establish the commission was to create a platform through which ordinary people in the society could be defended and secure justice.
The former president expressed joy that the objective for which the body was established “is still relevant and is being met today.”
He said: “As I listen to Radio and hear the less-privileged talk about the relief and justice they got through the assistance of the commission, it makes me to have no regret ever establishing the body.
“Although I cannot say that the need we saw then has completely disappeared, but there have been testimonies of cases where the commission has come to the rescue of the helpless.”
Obasanjo pledged that he would continue to provide necessary support to compliment government’s efforts in enhancing the operations of the commission.
Somorin-Dawodu, earlier in her remarks, had solicited Obasanjo’s assistance in the renovation of “roofless” office of the commission in Ota.
She also sought assistance in the commission’s bid to establish an area office in Abeokuta North Local Council area “for more effective operations”.
The commissioner said the commission had concluded over 25 cases of the 100 complaints it received since she assumed headship of the body in April 2015, adding that the operations of the commission was being hampered by lack of adequate funding.
