Hashimu Argungu assumes duty as PSC chairman

The new leadership of the Police Service Commission has assumed duty at the Corporate Headquarters of the Commission in Jabi, Abuja with a commitment to drive a deliberate knowledge acquisition programme for the Staff called “The Arena of Knowledge”.

The new Board of the Commission, recently appointed by the President, has DIG Hashimu Argungu rtd as Chairman, DIG Taiwo Lekanu rtd, Member and Chief Onyemuche Nnamani, Secretary.  The new Chairman,  Member and Secretary assumed duty on Thursday, July 4th, 2024.

Earlier today, Wednesday, July 10th 2024, the new Board flagged off an innovative programme, the Arena of Knowledge, a weekly lecture series for the Staff  of the Commission.

Chairman of the Commission, rtd DIG Argungu in his introductory remarks at the training programme said since nobody has monopoly of Knowledge, there was need for the Commission to meet weekly to share knowledge on the different areas of the staff day to day work.

He noted that he has always introduced the “Arena of Knowledge ” in all the places he has worked, adding that the nation’s civil service needs knowledge for improved service delivery.

The Commission Chairman and the Director Legal Services of the Commission, Bar. Babatunde Dada presented papers at today’s lecture.

In a paper, titled: “The Innocent  Victim: Wrongful  Garnishment Against  Police Service Commission”, the Commission Chairman examined a pending garnishee proceedings  against the Commission in respect of an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria in which  training money was lodged. He also examined the grounds that the judgment  creditors have executed Wrongful  garnishments against the Commission  other than the real judgment debtor.

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DIG Argungu rtd traced possible objections which included that the garnishee does not reside within jurisdiction; that there was no proper service on the garnishee; that the order nisi is not predicated on a valid and subsisting judgment  and that the certified copy of the judgment has not been attached to the application.

He also looked at other possible objections and noted that the Commission “is an innocent victim for Wrongful garnishment.

The PSC Chairman  recommended that the Commission’s legal department should urgently liaise with the Commissioner of Police Legal Services of the Nigeria Police Force to trace the civil suits in question  with the view to ascertain the genuineness  of the claims and also to urgently liaise with the necessary organisations to see the final conclusion against the order absolute.

DIG Argungu rtd also said the Secretary to the Commission,  the Director Legal Services  and the Director Finance and Accounts should put a mechanism in place to find out the remote and immediate causes of these problems .

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In his presentation, the Director, Legal Services, Bar. Dada traced the persisting problem of garnishee proceedings against the Commission to the inability of the Commission to mobilize its lawyers  to put up appearances for its cases  which normally result in judgment passed against it. According to him “If cases are effectively attended to and appearances made, then no judgment  will be against the Commission “.

He noted that in view of the fact that the Commission  has not been able to resolve its funding problem, the Legal Department  entered into Public-private partnership  (PPP) with private legal firms who “are willing to handle the cases pro-bono (free)”.

Bar. Dada said that for a permanent solution, there should be an Inter Agency Cooperation where  the Commission,  the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation  will need to meet and discuss this issue  and work out the modalities to liquidate this debt which are orders from Court.

He also recommended the introduction of its disciplinary power on any Police Officer  who is the subject of the litigation  and who caused its account  to be garnished by implementing Public Service Rule 030414. He said the Alternative  Dispute Resolution should also be adopted since various High Court Rules have made provisions for that.

The Director also suggested the need to liaise with the National Youth Service Corps  (NYSC) for the deployment  of Corps Members  who have been called to Bar to the Legal Department  of the Commission .

The next in the series of the Arena of Knowledge lectures will be held on Wednesday July 27th, 2024 and this will look into Leakages of classified documents/Information  and the consequences. It will be followed a week later by another lecture on the serious issues of cyber crime since 2015.