By Oluseye Ojo
The Chief Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Abimbola Ayo-Yusuf, has said the agency, has, within the past 30 months, received 791,026 complaints from members of the public, out of which 499,500 complaints have been successfully resolved.
The commission, which is an agency of the Federal government of Nigeria under the Presidency, which acts as an Ombudsman that receives complaints of the citizenry against the government or private institutions and organisation or their officials and wades in to settle issues, said a total of 291,526 complaints are still pending.
In a statement, Ayo-Yusuf,said:”Due to the strategies put in place since my assumption of office two and half years ago, the commission, under my leadership, was able to receive not less than 791,026 complaints from members of the public aside cases initiated by the commission, out of which 499,500 complaints have been successfully resolved and 291,526 are still pending.”
Ayo-Yusuf stated that the establishment and enforcement unit of the agency in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force and the Judiciary have been working together to effectively check some recalcitrant respondents.
“Under my leadership, about 80 case files have been handled by the unit out of which 76 have been successfully resolved, through prosecution. However, the Unit has also prosecuted not less than 70 recalcitrant respondents and the sum of N186 million has been recovered for various complainants,” he said.
He also addressed the labour unrest in the commission, saying the joint agitation of the the three unions – Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria (ASCSN), Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria(PASAN), to pay a salary structure that was not approved by the appropriate authorities, “is manifestly illegal and cannot be acceded to by any responsible institution.’
He stated that the National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment are working to resolve a dispute regarding the salary structure of the PCC. He added that the Commission had sought approval to migrate from the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure to the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure. The approval, he said, was granted with the requirement that the Commission liaise with the National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission for final approval.
Ayo-Yusuf noted that despite the efforts of the Commission and stakeholders, the approved budget for 2024 could not fully implement the approved salary structure. This led to a confrontation between the Commission’s executives and the union members, resulting in a public disturbance and detainment of several individuals.
In response to the disturbance, the two chairmen overseeing the Commission at the National Assembly called for a meeting with the Commission’s management and union executives. The need for adequate funding was emphasised, and steps were taken to improve it.
A meeting was scheduled with the leadership of the National Assembly to address the issue. During the meeting, it was clarified that the staff of the Public Complaints Commission cannot draw their salaries from the same structure as the staff of the National Assembly Service Commission.
He assured that steps are being taken to approach the relevant authority for approval of a salary scale specific to the commission’s staff.