Public Complaints Commission(PCC) was established by Acts of Parliament in 1975.
The Public Complaints Commission is an Ombudsman Institution set up in 1975. The reason for its establishment by its founding fathers was to bridge the gap between the government and the governed, also between the rich and poor.
Late Sule Maitama was the pioneer Chief Commissioner
Long reign of military rules made PCC to operate under presidency. However, the then Secretary to Federal government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim wrote a circular Ref. No. SGF.15/T.2/158 dated 21st December, 2012 returning PCC to National Assembly. The read circular read in part: ” This is inform you that the public Complaints Commission as enshrined in section 315(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is now under the jurisdiction of the National Assembly……and so should be compiled with by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)”
Nonetheless, management of PCC intentionally refused to comply until the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN, PCC chapter 3 years ago urged management to follow all processes to ensure that is fully is implemented. First was the migration of PCC staff salaries from Consilated Public Service Salary structure (CONPSS) to Consilated Legislative Salary Scale ( CONLESS) – one enjoy by staff of national assembly – approval gotten on 4th October, 2022 from National, Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.
From 2023 till now percentage implement of CONLESS is what PCC management is paying to staff. Again 40% Peculiar allowance approved in March, 2023 and 35,000 wage-award by president Tinubu (as a result of subsidy removal) are not being paid to PCC staff.
Penultimately, the Clerk to National Assembly, a mathematician by profession, verbally informed the management, Joint Unions and Committee Chairmen that PCC does not belong to National Assembly.
The question is, where does the PCC belong.