The  pitiable congestion of court dockets and correctional centres across the country has been traced to the seeming apathy by governments on issues concerning the dispensation of justice.

The Executive Director of Law Hub Development and Advocacy Center, Abuja, Mr. Osita Chukwuma, at a workshop on the popularizing and disseminating the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws, ACJL,  in Awka, accused the various governments of ignoring and relegating the development of the criminal justice system to the background, leading to slow dispensation of justice.

The workshop, which was sponsored by MacArthur Foundation, was mounted for top judicial officers in Anambra State, including High Court Judges, Magistrates, Ministry of Justice officials, senior police and correctional centers officers and lawyers.

According to the Executive Director, who spoke through Austin Udechukwu, the aim of the programme was to conduct an assessment of implementation of the ACJL in Anambra State and train stakeholders on key provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws.

He said: “The responsibility for upholding and implementing the objectives of the ACJA/ACJL and all its reforms clearly rests on all criminal justice stakeholders. It is on this note that the importance of synergy and sharing of information, knowledge and skills cannot be over-emphasized.

“The recognition of these cross-cutting challenges is the stimulus required to energize us to discharge our responsibilities dutifully and passionately with the hope that our names will be etched in the annals of history as champions of criminal justice reforms in the country.

“Those of us in the civil society space did recognize and advocate the need for all states in Nigeria to adopt and adapt the ACJA 2015 to suit their peculiar circumstances and we are particularly excited that Anambra State has not been left out of this, but has done the needful by adopting the ACJA 2015 and passing it as a state law.”

He, however, observed that enacting the ACJL is one thing, while ensuring its full implementation is another and advocated that stakeholders should ensure the full implementation of all the provisions contained in the ACJL, especially those revolutionary provisions designed to engender reforms.

He urged all the stakeholders to deliberately and consistently make use of the Practice Direction made pursuant to the ACJL as it would help in the practical implementation possible in the courts within which the rules apply.

He added: “The Law Hub wants to know what aspects of the law have so far been implemented and what challenges have been experienced so far with its implementation, as well as distil recommendations from stakeholders.

“It would also want to know the sections of the law which have not been implemented and what challenges have been experienced with implementing the said sections.

“Law Hub would like to learn lessons from the knowledge and experience of the stakeholders in the Anambra State justice sector, which would in turn help the team in determining the kind of support which can be provided for the state during the life span of the project.

“The outcome of this assessment would also be helpful to other states where Law Hub is implementing this project as the lessons learnt here can be cascaded to other states around the country for national implementation.”

He said that the he first phase of the project has so far been implemented in six states namely; Nasarawa, Kano, Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Enugu and Adamawa.

“The project intends to achieve its objective by assessing the needs of individual states and providing technical and logistical support to the criminal justice sectors of the various states.

“We have earmarked to support across the country. The support involves advocacy campaigns, as well as convening technical capacity building workshops and conducting various assessments and performance appraisals across the states within the two-year lifespan of the project.

“The training exercise is also an important aspect of this project as it seeks to bring to life, relevant provisions of the Anambra ACJL and Practice Direction and guide stakeholders on the best and most effective way of implementing these provisions”, he stated.

[Vanguard]

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