NGO unveils Nigeria’s criminal justice 2018 scorecard

Observation on upholding the rule of law by the various courts in Nigeria went a notch higher with the recent release of a report by a non-governmental organisation, Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN). The key recommendation of the report is the provision of electronic recording devices for the courts for effective discharge of duties by […]

Observation on upholding the rule of law by the various courts in Nigeria went a notch higher with the recent release of a report by a non-governmental organisation, Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN).

The key recommendation of the report is the provision of electronic recording devices for the courts for effective discharge of duties by judges and magistrates, who majorly still rely on the long hand mode.

Since the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in the FCT in 2015 and its adoption by various states in the federation, many organisations have been paying attention to its implementation.

PWAN, also known as the Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative, in 2017 began observing courts in the FCT, Lagos and Ondo states.

The Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, who supports the work of the NGO, had in October identified monitoring of courts as part of the mechanisms by the Federal Government to ensure speedy dispensation of corruption cases in courts.

For the report in quarters one, two and three of 2018, the NGO deployed 25 observers for Lagos and 20 each for Ondo and the FCT. The observers for FCT had 20 courts, covering 13 high courts and seven magistrate courts located in Apo, Maitama, Mpape, Jabi, Gudu, Lugbe, Life Camp, Dutse-Alhaji, Wuse and Gwagwalada.

The programme titled ‘Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in the Judicial Sector’, is a three-year programme, which is being implemented in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation.

PWAN also recognised the contributions of the High Courts in the FCT, Lagos and Ondo; the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee, the Nigerian Bar Association (Akure, Gwagwalada, Ikeja, Lagos Island, and Unity branches), Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, civil society organizations and the media.

The project harvested data on a number of days on which the courts were observed within the period under study; the number of court sittings and times of sitting; support available to the courts; attendance to cause list; and a survey detailing response from key criminal justice sector stakeholders such as the Federal Ministry of Justice prosecutors.

The survey also covered many prosecution agencies such as the police, ICPC, EFCC, NAPTIP, NDLEA, NSCDC and registrars of courts, judges, magistrates and private legal practitioners.

The report showed areas that require more improvement. For instance, while in the third quarter 61 percent of the target group said they have not received training on ACJA, 52 percent of same group admitted not to have received same training in the 4th quarter.

Further details showed that in quarter one, percentage of cases, which stalled due to absence of lawyers was 51 percent; it was 74 percent in quarter three. Details also showed that while the absence of witnesses stalled cases seven percent of the time in quarter one, it stalled cases 28 percent of the time in quarter three.

Speaking over the weekend in Abuja while presenting the report on the court observations for the FCT in the third quarter, the Programme Officer of the organisation, Toluwalase Ojesina, said the practice of non-presentation of video-recording of interrogation processes to courts was a violation of the ACJA.

She said “in line with Section 6(1) of the ACJA, 57 percent of respondent investigators and prosecutors say they “always” informed the person of the reason of arrest either orally or in writing, while 44 percent of the sometime they allowed defendants’ legal counsel to be present during  interrogation.”

According to her, only 19 percent respondents “always” recorded statements of suspects and in the absence of video recording allowed legal counsel during the taking of statement.

Ojesina insists that there was need for the executive to appropriate and provide the necessary wherewithal for procurement of equipment for interrogation processes for investigative agencies.

She said the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee should be empowered with resource to ensure effective coordination of criminal justice agencies as the report revealed that there were gaps in inter-agency coordination and collaboration on administration of criminal justice.

Ojesina said there was need for continuous coordination between ACJA implementation organisations to ensure effectiveness of interventions aimed at promoting the successful implementation of the ACJA.

On her part, Mrs. Barbara Maigari said the goal of the project was to enhance integrity in the Nigerian judicial system as well as citizens’ participation in judicial processes through three strategies, daily observation of court processes, case monitoring and survey of criminal justice actors.

She said PWAN was currently observing 65 courts across the target states which are FCT, Lagos and Ondo states ranging from Magistrate Courts to High Courts and across different jurisdictions.

These findings having highlighted the level of implementation of the ACJA, are expected to help in enhancing justice administration in the country.