Prison congestion, lack of adequate protection for witnesses, absence of database of suspects and debilitating delay in criminal trials are part, cause or fallout of the innumerable problems that have rendered the nation’s criminal justice system impotent.

The new Administration of Criminal Justice Bill, now an Act, was formulated to adequately address all these problems, but this will only happen if the provisions of the legislation are fully implemented.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, attested to the capability of the law to bring about the desired reforms in his speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the refresher course for judges on alternative dispute resolution and criminal justice reforms, held in Abuja on March 16, 2015.

Incidentally, the bill, which was the talking point at the event organised by the National Judicial Institute in Abuja, was passed by the Senate the day after the CJN spoke.

Justice Mohammed described as “seminal” the bill which intends mainly to address delay in trials and lack of protection for witnesses. The bill would also address the problem of inefficient record keeping of crimes and suspects in the country.

In his address to the participating judges, Justice Mohammed said, “I believe we are well aware of these and other problems. The situation is made more precarious due to the archaic and obsolete nature of the laws regulating the criminal justice system.

“The Administration of Criminal Justice Bill is a seminal bill which, when passed, will hopefully institutionalise several innovative measures that will significantly improve the delivery of criminal justice in the country.”

The bill, which was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan shortly before the expiration of his tenure, repealed the Criminal Procedure Act, Cap C4 Law of Nigeria (2004) and the Administration of Justice Commission Act, Cap A3 Law of Nigeria (2004).

One of the fundamental initiatives in the new ACJ Act is the abolishing of lay prosecution by police officers who are not trained lawyers.

The practice of lay prosecution, which dates back to the colonial era when there was insufficient manpower in the legal profession to prosecute criminal cases, is now very common in the Magistrate’s Court and such other lower courts.

Though states like Lagos, Ekiti and Anambra had adopted the new ACJ Act long before the Federal Government signed it into law, the new ACJ Act is applicable to all federal courts, including courts of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

As a solution to the unavailability of up-to-date and accurate records, the Act established a central criminal records registry at the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force. This established central criminal records registry system will serve as a veritable database of all offenders in the country.

The Act also introduced the non-custodial sentences for convicts, including community sentence orders and probation for minor offences.

Part of its general intention is to reduce the length of time spent by a suspect or an accused person, who the ACJ Act now directed should be referred to as “defendant”, in custody while awaiting trial.

As part of the ways to achieve its aim, the new Act has pegged at 14 days the period of time that a suspect may be remanded in custody, without arraignment and pending the review of such a case by a magistrate.

This provision of the Act has also put a limit to the number of times that the order of detention for 14 days can be obtained.

Where, on the third occasion, the detaining authority cannot show why the suspect should be detained for much longer, then the suspect may be released from custody, with or without application from the suspect or his counsel.

This provision is aimed at putting an end to a common situation in which the police go to sleep after getting a remand order from the magistrate’s court against a suspect they do not have any or sufficient evidence to prosecute or are not genuinely interested in prosecuting.

To the President of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, a civil society group involved in the drafting and advocacy for the passage and signing into law of the ACJ Act, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), the fruits of the ACJ Act are already being reaped in three states that adopted the law even before it was passed by the National Assembly.

According to Akinseye-George, who spoke during a sensitisation workshop on the ACJ Act organised by CSLS last Wednesday, delay in criminal trials has reduced by half in Lagos, Ekiti and Anambra states since these states adopted the law.

He said criminal trial which used to take 42 months from arraignment to judgment, now takes about 22 months in the states.

He said, “In those states, there is ample evidence of improvement in the criminal justice.

“A study by UNODC (United National Office on Drugs and Crime) on the time it took to complete prosecution of a case from arrest to judgment showed that nationally, it takes 42 months to conclude a criminal case from arraignment to judgment to the end.

“In the states where ACJ Act is already in force, the period of delay has reduced to an average of 22 months.”

The chairman of the occasion, who is also the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Bello, expressed confidence in the potential of the law “to remedy the lapses, the weaknesses and the anachronism” in the criminal justice system.

He reiterated the importance of a provision in the new law which gave good attention to the victims of crimes and abolished lay prosecution by non-lawyer policemen.

According to him, the new law deviated from “seemingly abstract representation” of a victim of crime as a mere or nominal complainant.

He added, “In this new Act, the victim of the crime is very visible by the express provisions of the Act. This is all about restorative justice, where the victim of the crime is attended to, fully compensated and where possible the accused or suspect is made to realise the magnitude of the adverse effect of his act on the victim of the crime.”

Justice Bello noted that the provision of the Act barring lay prosecution would be strictly applied once the ongoing sensitisation programmes to the law was completed.

He said, “From the day we are through with this sensitisation, we will no longer tolerate lay policemen appearing in court as prosecutors.

“We consider the latitude now as only a transitional process. We have asked the Ministry of Justice how combat-ready it is for lawyers in the ministry to take over prosecution.”

Various speakers at the event said the signing of the law was only a phase in the efforts to reform the criminal justice system in the country.

According to them, also key to the actualisation of the desired result is the provision of the requisite facilities to complement the new Act.

Akinseye-George said, “For instance, the Act makes provision for video recording of suspects’ statements. How many police stations in the country have such a facility?”

The professor therefore called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to make a priority the full implementation of the new ACJ Act.

He argued that doing so will, apart from addressing the delay in investigation and prosecution of criminal cases, boost public confidence in the nation’s justice sector with the attendant impact on the country’s economy.

“The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and its international development partners have called on the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to place priority on the administration of justice in the country,” said Akinseye-George.

He added, “Further, they urged the government to note the direct relationship between confidence in the justice system of any country and its ability to attract investors and tourists which could help to improve national economy.

“Adequate material and human resources must be provided to support the implementation of the reforms in the justice system. Such investment is money well-spent.”

Corroborating this view, Justice Bello submitted that since the process of adjudication relies on effective investigation, the executive arm of government, at all levels, must be prepared to invest in facilities that will enhance investigation of crimes.

He observed that the judiciary often took the blamed for the negative developments in criminal justice administration resulting from lack of facilities which the executive arm of government was in the position to provide.

He said, “The executive has a great deal of role which are indispensable component requirement that cannot be overlooked for the administration of justice to take place meaningfully.

“Any failure from any of the stakeholders affects the system. This is a truism. “

He feared that trials will remain stalled for a period of time due to absence of ballistic reports, handwriting experts or laboratory analysis on narcotics like Indian hemp, when required in certain cases.

He said, “You don’t jail anybody on the assumption that it is Indian hemp, there must be that report of analysis. A lot of trials will continue to get stalled because of the absence of one report or the other where it is required.”

Representatives of other institutions such as the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, the Nigeria Police Force, the UNODC and the J4A, an initiative of the British Government, also enjoined all relevant authorities to play their roles to ensure the full implementation of the law.

Representative of the police, an Assistant Commissioner of Police in the legal section of the Force headquarters in Abuja, Mr. David Igbodo, said the police, as the organisation with the highest number of lawyers in the country, will end lay prosecution within the transition period, mobilise its lawyers and engage more to prosecute criminal cases.

He however faulted the claim that the new law directed the Ministry of Justice to take over provision of criminal cases from the police.

“The section (of the new law) that deals with prosecution says there is no more lay prosecution, and we are committed to that; that is not takeover,” Igbodo argued.

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