Special courts, non-custodial sentencing top criminal justice conference

During the keynote address at the 5th Criminal Justice Reform Conference in Asaba, Delta State, the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Ishaq Bello made an impassioned appeal for urgent reforms in the areas of speedy adjudication and custodial management in the country, thus setting the tone for the rest of the conference. […]

During the keynote address at the 5th Criminal Justice Reform Conference in Asaba, Delta State, the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Ishaq Bello made an impassioned appeal for urgent reforms in the areas of speedy adjudication and custodial management in the country, thus setting the tone for the rest of the conference.

Speaking on the topic: ‘Criminal Justice Reforms in Nigeria: The Journey So far’, Justice Bello said the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) was enacted to correct the weaknesses observed in legislative, executive and adjudicative mandates in ensuring quicker dispensation of justice.

Justice Bello, who drew attention to his experience in prisons across the country as the chairman of the Federal Government’s Prison Decongestion Committee, said many people who are in prisons ought not to be there. He said reforms and non-custodial sentencing will make Nigerian prisons of international standards.

He outlined the efforts made by the FCT High Court in developing the new ‘Practice Direction on the Implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 in the Courts of the Federal Capital Territory’, and the ‘Civil Procedure Rules 2018’, which have mainstreamed Case Management System similar to the pre-trial method in the United States criminal justice system. He pledged to share the documents with other courts in states of the federation.

Perhaps, the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State knew the direction of the CJ’s presentation that he tailored his earlier speech in the same line. He called for drastic reforms in the Nigerian prisons system to become a corrective institution for inmates rather than for punishment and stigmatization.

“It is exigent that we devise a template for the prison system that focuses on correction and reformation, as against punishment and stigmatization,” Governor Okowa said.

“We must objectively, dispassionately and rigorously proffer solutions that will ensure the prison system only takes away the freedom of offenders, not their lives. As such, inmates must be empowered with the knowledge and skills to become productive citizens upon regaining freedom, instead of reverting to a life of crime because they have no other choice,” he added.

Also speaking during the opening ceremony, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) commended the partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation donation of the sum of $1.8m for the association’s advocacy project, which will seek to leverage on the membership base of over 120,000 lawyers in our 125 branches across Nigeria.

The real discussions over the needed reforms in the Nigerian criminal justice system began on Day two. Topics treated are: ‘Unlocking the innovations of Criminal Justice Legislation’, ‘Arrest, Remand and Awaiting Trial Syndrome in Criminal Justice: Fixing the Jigsaw to end Prison Congestion’, ‘Speedy Trials, Timeliness and Interlocutory Proceedings: Has the ACJA helped’, and ‘Disclosure Protocols Under ACJA’.

Panelists also deliberated on ‘Corruption, Economic and Financial Crimes: Special Courts to the Rescue?’ ‘Human Trafficking and Transnational Crimes: Institutional and Legal Remedies’, and ‘Prosecution and Punishment of Electoral Offences in Nigeria.’

Deliberating on the topic: ‘Arrest, Remand and Awaiting Trial Syndrome in Criminal Justice: Fixing the Jigsaw to end Prison Congestion’, panelists, which included the former deputy governor of Delta State, Prof Utuama (SAN), Chief Judge of Delta State, Justice Marshal Umukoro; a representative of the Inspector General of Police, CP David Igbodo; the DG Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Joy Bob-Manuel; and a representative of the Attorney General of the Federation, Dr Sylvester Imanhobe, Executive Director of PRAWA, Dr Uju Agomoh, a representative of the CG of Nigeria Prisons, Suraj Olarinde among others, highlighted the challenges of case management and congestion in Nigerian prisons.

The Nigerian prisons’ representative said of the service has carried out several projects with the 73, 000 total population and 49, 000 pre-trial inmates in the prisons. He said with improved funding, the service is rehabilitating convicted inmates and have encouraged some of them to run academic programmes with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), farming and skills programmes.

Dr Agomoh called for adequate funding for prison decongestion and monitoring mechanisms. She said over 60 percent of inmates didn’t have quality legal representation and recommended more pro bono service by members of the NBA.

The topic on: ‘Corruption, Economic and Financial Crimes: Special Courts to the Rescue?’ had former Supreme Court justice, Justice Suleman Galadima; constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN); the Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Debo Adeniran; a representative of the Executive Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Bolaji Owasonoye, Dr Oziri Azi; and the Acting Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Dr Usman Abubakar.

In his submission, Abubakar backed calls for the creation of special courts to give impetus to the provision of Section 396(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

 PACAC also backed moves to establish special courts in the country, pointing out moves towards the establishment of Special Courts for corruption cases, including a bill before the National Assembly. 

Adeniran submitted that anti-corruption should become more institutionalised so that it goes beyond just the “EFCC and ICPC. Every regulatory agency should be classified as anti-corruption agency.”

However, while Dr GarbaTetengi, also a discussant in the panel, raised several questions which border on the functionality of the new court where the existing courts have not been well utilised, Ozekhome rejected the idea of special courts instead questioning the non-adherence to the rule of law as a major cause of the challenges in the justice sector. He said the special courts will not be special indeed since it will still follow the same procedure of plea taking, evidence tendering, among others, which delays trials.

When the topic on: ‘Human Trafficking and Transnational Crimes: Institutional and Legal Remedies’ came up, panelists which included representatives of the Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, and Director Legal of the agency, Carol Ojukwu highlighted the efforts being made by the agency  in the control of human trafficking and other trans-national crimes.

A representative of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Burutai, Brig. General Yusuf Shalangwa identified challenges of porous borders, global trade, widespread deregulation, technology advancement and social interactions as some of the factors responsible for trans-national crimes. He advocated the application of UN Conventions and the strengthening of domestic regulatory institutions as solution to trans-national crimes.

Another major topic of discussion was the ‘Prosecution and Punishment of Electoral Offences in Nigeria’, which was chaired by the Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Peter Umeadi. One of the panelists, Ferdinand Orbih (SAN) harped on the weakness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in prosecuting electoral offenders as a critical area to be strengthened to have more credible election in Nigeria.

In his presentation, the chairman of the NBA Criminal Justice Reform Committee, Arthur Ob-Okafor (SAN) said theconference  “seeks to unravel the measures to be taken in order to make our criminal justice system responsive to the needs and aspirations of Nigerians.”

 He added: “We strongly believe that it is about time we started interrogating the legal framework underpinning Nigeria’s criminal justice system.”