From Gyang Bere, Jos
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Plateau State, Barr Chrysanthus Ahmadu, has said that effective implementation of criminal justice law in Nigeria would ensure the decongestion of criminal cases in courts and inmates in Custodian Centres across the country.
He noted that one of the factors discouraging investments, particularly foreign investments in developing nations of the world is the absence of an effective and reliable Dispute Resolution Mechanism.
Barr Ahmadu disclosed this on Thursday during a one-day capacity building training and presentation of secretariat equipment by the administration of criminal justice monitoring committee Federal, with the support of Macarthur Foundation, held in Jos, Plateau State.
“We are no strangers to the condition of our justice sector institutions and mechanisms such as delay of cases which has one major resultants effect, overcrowding of Correctional Centres with a large percentage of the inmates awaiting trial which consequently give rise to Human Rights issues.
“This rob our Correctional Institutions of the capacity to meaningfully, leading the injection of hardened criminals onto 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.
“Parts of the reforms was the birth of the Administration of Criminal 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 has the responsibility of ensuring effective and efficient application of the law by relevant agencies; ensuring the congestion of criminal cases in courts is greatly reduced; criminal matters are speedily dealt with; congestion in the Custodian Centres is reduced to the barest minimum and persons awaiting trial are far as possible not detained in prison custody among others.
The Secretary of 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 the criminal justice system in the country.
He noted that such action has 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 rest 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.”
The Commissioner of Police, Plateau State, Bartholomew Onyeka, represented by Deputy Commissioner of Police, CID, Mohammed Buni and his counterpart said effective implementation of the criminal justice system will speedy trial of criminal cases that have been investigated.
“The number of cases that have been investigated and given to our legal units is 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 courts.”
The Controller of Correctional Centre Plateau State, Jos Custodian Centre Samuel Agunda noted that there is high congestion in the facility because of the lack of speedy trials of criminals.
He noted that the facility was built during the colonial era when criminal activities were not high and since then, the infrastructure has not been remodelled in line with the current reality.