A/HRC/7/3/Add.4 page 46 5. The Government notes with satisfaction that the Special Rapporteur has accorded due significance to the enormous challenges faced by the State, such as the size of the population and country, ethnic and religious diversity, high level of crime, poverty, federal character, etc. in addressing developmental, human rights issues and crime in the country. While the Government does not intend to justify torture and ill-treatment under any circumstances, it is hoped that the international community understands the enormous challenges faced by law-enforcement agencies in a developing nation as our own. Some of these challenges are highlighted in the Special Rapporteurs report and may have a direct correlation with his observations on the attitude of the police to suspects; the lack of an effective complaints mechanism; the unsatisfactory state of detention facilities; the under-resourced and over-stretched criminal justice system; Sharia Law and corporal punishment, etc. 6. Whereas the Government takes the various conclusions reached and recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur in good spirit and good faith, it takes serious exception to the sweeping generalization on the alleged widespread nature and application of torture in the Nigerian Police and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) formations, based on his visits to only three police posts (out of more than 3,000 around the country), notably in Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos. The Government is of the view that the conclusion is indeed too sweeping and generalized. It is not logical to use information from a small sample (in this case less than 0.1 per cent) to reach a universal conclusion. 7. It is also important to underscore the fact that Police officers are accountable and that they do not operate with such impunity as suggested in the report. The Police Service Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, and various disciplinary organs at respective police formations, are empowered to examine and address these excesses when they are reported. Such disciplinary actions are reported regularly in the vibrant Nigerian press. This notwithstanding, the Government welcomes the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur to increase the training received by the police and to broaden their sensitivity and awareness on human rights issues. It would be pleasing to note that bold steps are already being taken to train and reposition the police along this path. The human rights desk, already established in every police station and command is to ensure that the rights of the accused are respected and the rule of law applied in the administration of law and justice. 8. The Government also views, with grave seriousness and importance, the concerns raised by the Special Rapporteur about the fate of three detainees who he interviewed and whose whereabouts became unknown shortly after his visit, which made him to conclude, again without any reasonable basis, that extrajudicial killings were ‘widespread’ across the country. The Government recognizes the negative effect the fear of reprisals by interviewees will have on the entire review process and is therefore committed to unravelling the circumstances leading to and surrounding the deaths, which it has established, of two of the detainees, namely; Mr. Elijah John and Mr. Bayo Abdurmo Adekunk. Their deaths are presently being investigated and the Government is committed and determined to hold all these found guilty, accountable. On the other hand, the Government is pleased to report that the third detainee, Mr. Mohammed Bello, is alive and in prison custody in Kaduna. 9. While appreciating the concern for the safety and welfare of the detainees shown by the Special Rapporteur, the Government rejects the conclusion of the Special Rapporteur, based only on these two isolated cases, that extra judicial killing is a widespread practice across the country.