NPF Website Violates NITDA Guidelines: Outdated PPRO Contact Information Revealed

NPF Website Violates NITDA Guidelines, Does Not Have the Phone Numbers of PPROs

The names and phone numbers of the Police Public Relations Officers (PPROs) of 12 states on the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) website are outdated.

The press surfed the NPF website on Thursday, Friday and Tuesday for the list containing the contact details of PPROs for each state, and found that the details of some state PPROs belonged to former PPROs.

Out of the 36 state PPROs on the list, 24 were correct; the details of the remaining 12 were outdated and belonged to previous state PPROs.

For instance, on the NPF website, Odiko S. Ogbeche-Macdon’s name and phone number were written as the contact details of the Akwa Ibom PPRO instead of John Timfon, who was announced as the state’s PPRO in April. It was five months since Timfon became Akwa Ibom PPRO, but Ogbeche-Macdon’s details remained on the website’s list of state PPROs.

Also, Ejire Adetoun Adeyemi’s details were missing from the list of state PPROs on the website, despite being appointed as the Kwara PPRO in November. The details of Okasanmi Ajayi, the former Kwara PPRO, retained the same spot.

While the press understands that some state PPROs were appointed recently, some of them, like Adeyemi, have occupied their positions for almost a year. Yet, their details were nowhere to be found on the list.

The names of the current state PPROs whose names were missing from the list on the NPF website are contained in the table below:

By retaining details of previous state PPROs on their website, the NPF is violating Article 3.1 of the NITDA standards guidelines for websites, which states:

The Internet is becoming a preferred means of accessing Government
information and services. Therefore, Government Institutions, through
their websites, must make sure that information provided is current and
that it is updated at least weekly.

‘POLICE WEBSITE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED’ – JOURNALISTS REACT

While this may appear as a minor issue, journalists who have had to contact state PPROs for information beneficial to their work are usually disappointed. They often surf the NPF website for the contact details of state PPROs, and find the details of the previous PPROs instead.

Often, journalists have to contact other colleagues to help them with the contact details of the PPRO they need to speak with, something they find frustrating, considering the urgency and timeliness associated with news reports.

“I usually feel frustrated when I have to contact colleagues to help me with the details of PPROs whose names are not on the NPF website, considering that I have deadlines as well as the urgency and timeliness that comes with writing news reports,” said a journalist.

“Sometimes you don’t even know if the colleague you are reaching out to can help you or not.”

The press sent Muyiwa Adejobi, the Police Force PRO, a message on Monday, but he did not respond. Adejobi did not respond to FIJ’s calls on Tuesday.