The Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) is a network of 46 civil society organizations spread across Nigeria, and committed to promoting police accountability and respect for human rights. It was established in 2000 to provide opportunity for civil society involvement in police reform, and the promotion of safety, security and justice in Nigeria. NOPRIN carries out its mandate through monitoring, field research and investigation, documentation, publication, campaign and advocacy. NOPRIN partners with national, international, governmental and intergovernmental organizations and institutions in implementing its programs aimed at transforming law enforcement institutions and practices in Nigeria.
NOPRIN, in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), plans to convene two days Public Tribunals on Police Abuse in Nigeria in each of the six geopolitical regions of Nigeria.
The public tribunals are designed to put issues of police abuse in the front burner of public debate; give voice to the numerous survivors, relatives of victims and witnesses of police abuse in Nigeria and to assist them to secure remedies through the use of mechanisms of internal control and external accountability. It is also aimed at mobilizing eminent Nigerians to join the campaign to end police abuse of human rights in Nigeria.
The Public Tribunals will be presided over by a Panel of Judges comprising eminent Nigerians drawn from governmental, nongovernmental and intergovernmental agencies such as the National Human Rights Commission, Public Complaints Commission, Police Service Commission, Association of Retired Police Officers, the Judiciary, Religious Bodies, Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Labour Congress, Nigerian Union of Journalists, African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, and human rights organizations.
Testimonies will be heard from survivors of police abuse as well as from relations of victims on their behalf. Each testimony will be followed by cross examination and comments by members of the audience. The Chairperson of the panel will pronounce the findings and recommendations of the Panel of Judges after comments from members of the Panel.
Beginning from Jos, Plateau State for the North Central region in June; Owerri, Imo State for the Southeast region in August, and Bauchi for the Northeast region in October, NOPRIN will go round the six regions of Nigeria over the next 20 months to hold the public tribunals.
The Public tribunals will focus on cases of unlawful detention, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment; extrajudicial killings; rape and sexual violence.
In Maiduguri, Northeast Nigeria, many victims of extrajudicial killing after the Boko Haram crisis had been brought under control will have opportunity to testify before a panel of eminent and impartial Nigerians whose recommendations would be forwarded to relevant authorities for appropriate action.
In the Southeast, Police partisanship and complicity in crimes and human rights abuse has been a major obstacle to safety and security of citizens in the region.
In the North Central Region, the Public Tribunal will provide an opportunity for victims and witnesses to testify on the role of security agencies in sectarian violence and the resultant human rights abuses. Recurrent sectarian violence in Jos, for example has resulted to egregious abuses and community loss of confidence in the ability of security agencies to contain recurrent violence. The Public Tribunal will provide opportunity for the Muslim community in Plateau State, for example, to testify about their grievances against the police; while the Christian community will testify about their grievances against the military. Other victims and survivors will also be invited to testify. It is hoped that the Public Tribunal will contribute to ending the cycle of violence in North Central Nigeria in the face of the failure of successive government Commissions of inquiry to unravel and address the root causes of the recurrent violence with a view to breaking the circle.
We hereby request victims, family members on their behalf, and witnesses who wish to testify during the tribunals in their regions to indicate by writing to or calling the Program Coordinator, Network on Police Reform in Nigeria at the under listed address and phone number. Members of the public are also requested to assist in passing this information around to those who may benefit from it.


Okechukwu Nwanguma
Program Coordinator
Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN)
44, Alhaja Kofoworola Crescent
Obafemi Awolowo Way
(Balogun Bus Stop)
Ikeja
08064974531

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