PCC resolves 23,246 cases in 2016 – Chief Ogbile

The Chief Commissioner of Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Mr. Emmanuel Ogbile, has said the commission resolved a total of 23, 246 out of 38, 108 complaints brought before it in 2016.

However, Mr. Ogbile lamented that the commission has not received any allocation from the federal government since October 2016 adding that the staff of the commission have not been paid.

He warned that the government should not allow the situation to degenerate to the level where the staff would be compelled to repeat the scenario of last year when had to protest on the streets of the city.

Mr. Ogbile stated this on Tuesday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the quarterly reviewing of the activities of the Commission and challenges confronting it.

Giving the break down, the Chief Commissioner said 4,531 complaints were filed at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja while the 36 states of the federation accounted for 33,577 cases.

These cases, the HCC said, were investigated and 2,255 complaints were resolved at the headquarters while the 36 states successfully resolved 20,992.

He pointed out that the headquarters of the Commission have 2276 cases pending for resolution while the 36 states have 14, 862 cases yet to be resolved.

Some of the complainants, whose cases were resolved by the PCC, gave their accounts on how proactively the PCC rose to resolve their complaints without paying the commission a dime.

Mr. Solomon Sofoluwe gave account on how a car leasing company which reneged in making payments over an insured car that had accident, expressed appreciation to the Commission for making sure the company paid all what was due to him.

Similarly, Mr Muhammed Wali said he was successfully paid a deposit he made for to a property developer in Abuja amounting to N625,000, while a foreigner, Mr Muhammed Ilyas Kyan also narrated how the PCC assisted him to get a six month salary owed him by his former employer adding “I am grateful to this Commission people who have challenges should come here I didn’t pay anything for the service rendered to me.”

Mr. Ogbile however stated that there are real challenges confronting the Commission which are impeding on the successful discharge of its mandate. According to him, “The Commission is not left out of the current economic recession in the country as the drastic drop in our budget seriously hampered our operations. The sum of N2 billion was approved as the Commission’s budget for 2016, while it required about N3.5 billion for the staff salaries.

“Hence, there was a drastic drop in the Commission’s monthly allocations. This situation was so critical that we found it difficult to pay the staff salaries in full this resulting to an industrial strike by the staff.

“However, the Federal Government saved the situation by approving a virement of N2.5 billion to supplement the Commission’s budget. All hands are on deck to ensure that the ugly situation does not repeat itself in 2017.

“The second constraint was that of the recalcitrant respondents. These are organisations complained against but they refused to either cooperate with the Commission. Their recalcitrant does not only stall our investigations but also frustrated them,” he said.

He warned that the Commission will apply the full weight of the law in dealing with recalcitrant respondents. “We shall apply the full force of the law in accordance with the provisions of the Commission’s Act on any erring respondents.”