From Gyang Bere, Jos
Stakeholders with the responsibility of efficient implementation of criminal justice law in Plateau State recently converged on Jos to strategize on putting in place suitable mechanisms to decongest prisons in the state.
Top among the responsibility of the stakeholders is to ensure congestion of criminal cases in courts is greatly reduced, criminal matters are speedily dealt with, congestion in the custodial centres is reduced to the barest minimum and persons awaiting trial as far as possible not detained in prison custody, among others.
Chief Judge of Plateau State, Justice Gyang Dakwak, represented by Hon. Justice Gedelia Fwomyon, noted with dismay the soaring number of criminal cases in various courts in the state and said, unless there was effective criminal justice system, speedy dispensation of justice was nearly impossible.
He noted that lack of facilities, manpower, coupled with lack of monitoring justice system, have led to increasing number of cases in the court.
“You can imagine a judge handling between 400 and 500 criminal cases in a court and that could also be seen in the custodial centres, where the number of inmates awaiting trial is overwhelming,” he said.
In his remarks, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Plateau State, Barr. Chrysanthus Ahmadu, said effective implementation of criminal justice law in Nigeria would speed up the dispensation of justice and create confidence in the justice system.
He noted that one of the factors discouraging investments, particularly foreign investments in developing nations of the world, was the absence of an effective and reliable dispute resolution mechanism.
Ahmadu lauded the one-day capacity-building training and presentation of secretariat equipment by the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee (federal) with the support of the Macarthur Foundation, and said that will strengthen the justice sector institutions.
He said: “We are no strangers to the condition of our justice sector institutions and mechanisms such as delay of cases, which has one major resultant effect, overcrowding of correctional centres, with a large percentage of the inmates awaiting trial, which, consequently, give rise to human rights issues and robs our correctional institutions of the capacity to meaningfully leading to injection of hardened criminals into society with dire consequences for the citizenry. The foregoing is the backdrop to the reforms the criminal justice sector witnessed in the recent past, which is ongoing.
“Part of the reforms was the birth of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which has been domesticated by almost all the states in Nigeria. Plateau State has not only passed the law but has just recently unveiled the practice direction to further strengthen the implementation of the law.”
He noted that the team had the responsibility of ensuring effective and efficient application of the law by relevant agencies; ensuring congestion of criminal cases in courts is greatly reduced, criminal matters are speedily dealt with, congestion in the custodial centres is reduced to the barest minimum and persons awaiting trial are, as far as possible, not detained in prison custody, among others.
The secretary, Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee, Federal, Sulayman Dawodu, expressed gratitude to the Macarthur Foundation for filling the vacuum created by previous administrations who ignored the development of criminal justice system in the country.
He noted that such actions have led to the current state of insecurity, corruption in the land and perennial congestion in the detention and correctional facilities and courts.
“The responsibility for upholding and progressing the objectives of the ACJA/ACJL clearly rests on all criminal justice stakeholders, especially the ACJMC/JSRT members. Therefore, the importance of strategizing through synergy and sharing of information, knowledge and skills cannot be overemphasized,” he said.
Commissioner of Police, Plateau State, Bartholomew Onyeka, represented by Deputy Commissioner of Police, CID, Mohammed Buni, and his counterpart said effective implementation of criminal justice system would speed up trial of criminal cases that have been investigated.
“The number of cases that have been investigated and given to our legal units are many and we have not been able to arraign them in court because of lack of manpower and availability of the courts. Some of them stay with us for three to four months waiting for arraignment in court,” he said.
Controller of Correctional Centre, Plateau State, Jos Custodial Centre, Samuel Agunda, noted that there was high congestion in the facility because of lack of speedy trial of criminals.
He noted that the facility was built during the colonial era, when criminal activities were not rampant and, since then, the infrastructure had not been remodeled, in line with the current realities.