Awka, Nigeria – Rising from their one-day capacity-building workshop in Awka, participants say despite the domestication and implementation of the criminal justice law in Anambra,
prosecution of criminal matters is still bedeviled by some challenges.
This was part of the conclusions reached at the workshop on the Anambra State Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL), organised by Law Hub Development and Advocacy Centre in Awka on Friday.
Micheal Anyadiegwu of Anambra Judiciary said even though ACJL 2010 and Revised 2022 had been operational in the state, there were more awaiting trial inmates than convicts.
Anyadiegwu blamed the challenge on the lack of effective synergy between the critical players in the justice administration sector, including the Ministry of Justice, the Police, Nigeria Correctional Service and the Judiciary.
He said the Police were crucial in the criminal justice process as they are in charge of protection of lives, arrest and investigation of criminal matters, noting that abuse in the system had reduced confidence in the system.
“We still have the problem of rising number of awaiting trial inmates, I hope that after this workshop and subsequent step down to the various justice actors, we will have a more efficient and effective system.
“What we want is a better Implemented ACJL to fast track the criminal justice process in Nigeria. I think Anambra has the best ACJL nationwide, having experimented and improved on what we had.
“We need attitudinal and institutional changes because you may have the best legislation but they will be implemented by human beings. We have laws that can reduce the number of persons in custody but we are facing serious institutional issues.
“We also have corruption as a problem; people no longer have confidence in the Police because of the unnecessary transfer of cases between stations, and petitioners become defenders in their own cases because the ‘big man’ does not want to go to court,” he said.
On his part, CSP Anayo Nwali, the Officer In charge of Legal matters, Anambra Police Command, said the increase in custody number was due to the slow pace of assignment of cases by the courts.
Nwali, who represented Commissioner of Police (CP) Nnaghe Itam, said the Police were doing their best to speed up the criminal justice system and that the Command had liaison officers in the ministry of justice to facilitate the processes.
“The criminal justice process brought good innovations but there is a law that says that in criminal matters, there must be remand processes at the high court which must come by way of motion experte.
“It also says that the Police must wait until the file is assigned to a judge, this is a problem why we have people stay more than necessary in custody.
“Our recommendation is that the ministry of justice should empower any sitting judge to take the matter, this will help decongest the cells,” he said.
In his address, Mr Osita Chukwuma, the Executive Director Of Law Hub Development And Advocacy Centre, said the centre was excited by the proactive leadership that Anambra has shown in setting forth at dawn to enact the ACJL
Chukwuma, represented by Mr Austin Udechukwu, an official at the Centre, said Anambra was one of the states in which Law Hub Development and Advocacy Centre was implementing the second phase of this MacArthur Foundation-supported project.
He said enacting the ACJL was one thing, and ensuring its full
implementation was another while advocating that stakeholders should ensured the full implementation of all the provisions it contained.
“This project by Law Hub focuses on Popularizing and Disseminating
the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws of States and continuously updating the Laws to Reflect Amendments.
“Law Hub successfully implemented the first phase of this project in six states – Nasarawa, Kano, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Enugu and Adamawa.
“We also urge all the stakeholders to
deliberately and consistently make use of the Practice Direction, made pursuant to the ACJL, as this would greatly improve the criminal justice sector of various states,” he said.
The workshop also had other stakeholders, including lawyers, judges, Correctional Service officers, the Media and Civil Society, in attendance.
