Cleen Foundation, a non-governmental organisation has inaugurated a resource centre for hosting soft and hard copies of corruption judgments in Lagos state.

Mr Benson Olugbuo, Executive Director of the foundation, disclose this in a statement on Wednesday, in Abuja, noting that the inauguration was in collaboration withMacArthur Foundation.

Olugbuo said that the initiative was part of the organisation’s ongoing project, promoting the accountability and transparency in the Administration of Criminal Justice (ACJA) in Nigeria.

He said that the goal of the project “is hinged on reducing corruption, promoting judicial transparency in the processing of anti-corruption cases and enhancing accountability in the criminal justice system of the country.

“This is with a view to make information on recent court rulings and judgments easily accessible both online and offline to legal practitioners, law enforcement agencies, judges, prosecutors and defendants responsible for the administration of criminal justice.

“Government agencies, legal scholars and researchers and civil societal organisations working for justice sector reforms, especially with the application of ACJA on corruption and accountability, would also find it very useful.”

He also said that the project principally sought to monitor cases of corruption in relation to the ACJA 2015 through a web-based platform called `Uwazi’ which is functional, accessible and within the reach of the public.

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Olugbuo said that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has been selected to serve as a partner to host the centre which would serve as a repository of court rulings both on corruption and financial crimes related cases.

He added that a state working committee had been inaugurated and would realign to hold a bi-monthly meeting for more impact on monitoring and reporting of the ACJA in the state and across its focal area.

He, however, said that it was expected that its partners hosting the centre would give updates on the successes at the bi-monthly meetings to further advance the centres functionalities.

“Undeniably, we share a common interest for effective justice delivery with our partners and we do possess an important stake in the implementation of the ACJA 2015 as applicable to the states.

“We, therefore, expect to get feedbacks on the usage and functionalities of the resource centre for a better and more impressive blend of experts for the improvement on its functionalities,’’ he said.

Olugbuo reiterated that the foundation would support and partner with other organisations that shared the same goals, such as the effective implementation of the ACJA in states, where it has been domesticated.(NAN)