The CLEEN Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation on Tuesday March 19, 2024, organised a media presentation on the status of Stakeholders’ Compliance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act in Nigeria. This is crucial for all to take stock of what has been done and make improvement where there is need. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act/Law, ACJA/L was enacted in 2015 with the aim of ensuring speedy dispensation of justice, protection of rights of accused persons, and enhancing transparency in the criminal justice system. How has the Act fared and has it lived up to its billing?
In the press statement, Gad Peter, Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, reveals that the NGO conducted assessment of stakeholders’ compliance in eight states comprising Edo, Kwara, Bauchi, Sokoto, Delta, Katsina, Jigawa and Cross states.
“One of the key provisions of the ACJA is the requirement for law enforcement agencies to ensure that suspects are promptly charged to court within 24 hours of their arrest. However, there have been reports of delay in charging suspects to court by the police”. He reiterates that non-compliance undermines the rights of suspects and contributes to prison congestion. He also listed issues bordering on bails, arrest by proxies, poor interrogation and poor search procedures as part of challenges threatening the implementation of the ACJA.
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| From left Blessing Eromo, Programme (Director, CLEEN, Edo State), Peter and Hashim at the media presentation |
Peter commends Muhammed Usaini Gumel, commissioner of police, Kano State, who adopted the non-kinetic policing and has remained the champion of ACJA implementation.While lamenting that “some lawyers may not be fully be aware of the provision of the act or fail to adhere to its requirements during legal proceedings”, he pleads with the bar to walk closely with the bench to ease the implementation of the ACJA and also provide adequate access to justice to citizens who have challenges. Concerning the judiciary, who he notes plays vital and critical roles in interpreting and applying the ACJA during trials, Peter says there are concerns about delays in trials and backlog of cases in Nigerian courts, which impact access to justice for both victims and defendants. Other challenges include poor infrastructure to protect witnesses, weak digital infrastructure to ease court administration.
He calls on other states to copy Borno State government, who set up a virtual courtroom for hearing cases through teleconference, using digital tools.The ED decries the overcrowding and poor living conditions in the Nigeria Correctional centres, and that instances where dogs are adequately budgeted for over human beings needs to be investigatedSalaudeen Hashim, Programme Director, CLEEN, maintains that stakeholders within the entire value chain have not responded in the way and manner they should. According to him, all this borders around funding, the ACJL at the state level does not have a requisite driving force to allow it achieve its objectives.
“The ministries of justice in most of the states we carried out the assessment are not given the adequate infrastructure of funding to drive the entire process”.“The ACJL has a variety of innovations to help achieve a crime-free society, preserve the rights of the people and promotes the dispensation of justice”.
The objectives of ACJA 2015 include: Ensuring that law enforcement agents like police respect fundamental rights of Nigerian; depopulate prisons and other detention centres; making task of law enforcement easier by ensuring records of offenders are documented and fast-track court trials of persons alleged of crimes.The CLEEN Foundation therefore called on the media, civil societies and other relevant stakeholders to work together the strengthen the criminal justice system in Nigeria, improve the understanding and implementation of the Act’s provision to ensure a fairer and more efficient criminal justice system, and also partake in regular trainings on the provision of ACJA. Peter also maintains that monitoring mechanism should be put in place to assess compliance level and address any instances of non-compliance promptly. In his words, “Together we can build a more transparent, efficient and rights-respecting criminal justice system that serves the interests of all”.
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