Headfort Foundation for Justice has held stakeholders dialogue on enacting state Correctional Laws in Lagos State.
The dialogue saw the gathering of critical stakeholders in the administration of justice in Lagos state.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of Headfort Foundation, Mrs Oluyemi Orija, underscored the importance of the dialogue.
Orija said that the the National Assembly in March 2023 moved correctional matters from the exclusive list to the concurrent list thereby giving state governments the avenue and power to administer their own correctional centres.
According to her, Lagos state government is in the process of enacting its own laws governing its correctional centres.
She noted that the laws would be implemented on Lagos residents, adding that it was important for the foundation to recommend and be part of the whole process.
The executive director said that as an organisation interested in justice, the foundation deemed it fit to gather stakeholders to dialogue so that people can make useful contributions to the law.
“This will afford stakeholders the opportunity to contribute to it.
“We, as headfort will recommend to the state, stakeholders from the different parts of the justice system will also make their own recommendations so that we can have a robust Lagos state correction law at the end of the day,” Orija said.
She noted that the law making process is a fresh opportunity for the state.
“It is not about taking the existing laws and replicating it for Lagos state.. It is about looking at the existing law and sieving it, taking what is really important for Lagos State and the kind of programmes that would be tailored towards the inmates in Lagos state.
“Again it is not about enacting laws, but enacting laws that we can implement and that is perculiar to us in Lagos state.
For Seyi Olawumi, Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch, the dialogue is very important considering the congested nature of the correctional centres in Nigeria.
Olawumi said that we really have to take cognisance of who we are as Nigerians and make laws that are perculiar to our reality and exxperiencess.
He said that the dialogue is a very good initiative and the members of the bar would support it.
He urged the organisers to carry all the NBA branches in the state along in such a dialogue due to the overcrowded nature of the nation’s correctional centres.
Generally, stakeholders agree that there should be speedy dispensation of justice in the courts to decongest the states correctional centres.
Stakeholders also recommend that noncustodial sentencing options should adopted for minor offences as part of efforts to decongest the correctional centres.
The stakeholders are hopeful that the state correctional law should be robust and positioned to address the challenges of inmates and the judiciary as well.
