Members of the fourth estate of the realm on November 16, 2023 were trained by officials of CLEEN Foundation on reporting, influencing compliance and implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Regime in Nigeria.
It was with the theme, “Media Training Towards Influencing The Effective Implementation and Compliance of The Administration of Criminal Justice Regime In Nigeria.”
The training, in Ikeja, Lagos State, had in attendance journalists drawn from different media organisations and was supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
The training also became vital after monitoring and research carried out by CLEEN Foundation, which led to shocking discoveries that principal actors, who are supposed to use and adhere to the procedural laws encapsulated in the ACJA have refused to comply and implement it, while others, including judges, have absolutely no idea what the ACJA is all about and thus continue to breach the laws.
The Programme Manager, CLEEN Foundation, Chigozirim Okoro, said that for the country to move forward with respect to the ACJA, it was vital to tackle challenges discovered during the monitoring and then later begin to hold relevant actors and their agencies accountable through vibrant and sustained media reportage.
Okoro said that at least 33 states had adopted the ACJA, but compliance and implementation continued to be a hydra-headed problem. This was also as she stressed the importance of ensuring the remaining states domesticate the law.
Okoro, while speaking on the aim of the media training, said: “The objective of the training was to develop advocacy capacity and capability to mobilise voices to influence political actors and criminal justice stakeholders towards the implementation and Compliance of the Administration of Criminal Justice (ACJA) Regime in Nigeria.”
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The training was also to enhance the knowledge of the journalists on advocacy capacity and capability to mobilise voices to influence actors and improve the awareness of the media personnel towards value-added collaboration, openness, and flexible and responsive partnership. Furthermore, it was also to create agenda-setting ideas and develop the capacity to interrogate ideas and advocate towards an efficient outcome.
Okoro further said: “It is also to stimulate conversation and rejig stakeholders justice sector on accountability gap and to build a base of knowledge and best practices that can be widely used in strengthening coordination of existing and emerging Anti-Corruption Agencies and strengthening their collaboration, coordination and communication as prescribed by the Administrative of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
“The overarching project goal is to contribute to the reduction of corruption, promote judicial transparency in processing corruption cases and enhance accountability among practitioners in the criminal justice system in Nigeria. Specifically, the project is aimed at improving the compliance level to the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act in Nigeria.”
Okoro continued: “We’ve seen how corrupt cases are handled, how a single judge continues to handle too many cases in a state, going from one court to the next, leading to long adjournments. Some judges are not even aware of the innovations of the ACJA. We want the media to begin to hold people accountable, people who are not doing their duties by complying with those innovations in the ACJA.
“ We’re simply tired of seeing prison congestion, seeing the same abnormalities every day and we want to persuade these actors to do the right thing through media reports. Let these actors see the importance of doing the right thing. I also challenge journalists to study and understand the ACJA, and to look at the innovations so that when they write their reports, they’ll do so with authority stemming from knowledge.”
The Human Resources, Legal Officer of CLEEN Foundation, Ifeyinwa Akwiwu said the situation of the ACJA after its enactment was not impressive.
Akwiwu explained that before the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in 2015, the criminal justice system was historically characterised by delays in the dispensation of trials engendered by incessant adjournments, interlocutory applications, disregard for gender mainstreaming, poor case management, corruption, and infringement of human rights amongst other challenges.
She stated: “To address the gaps in the system, an integrated and coordinated reform in the administration of criminal Justice was crucial and accordingly, birthed the ACJA. The Act introduced far-reaching innovations, including stipulated periods for conducting investigations, arraignment, and prosecution of offences.
“However, eight years post-enactment, the Act has encountered a slow and difficult process in achieving full implementation.
“Notwithstanding how revolutionary or innovative a law is, the test for the applicability, and relevance of such law is the implementation, enforcement and compliance with its provisions. Eight years post the enactment of the ACJA 2015, records have shown that 33 out of the 36 states have domesticated the law (Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL)). But the big question is how well has the law’s innovative provisions impacted the administration of criminal justice in these states, with particular reference to corruption cases.”
According to her, the principal goal of the project by CLEEN is to contribute to the reduction of corruption, promote judicial transparency in processing corruption cases, and enhance accountability among practitioners in the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
“Specifically, the project is aimed at improving the compliance level to the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act in Nigeria. This we will achieve by evaluating the issues identified and charting a way forward,” said Akwiwu.
Okoro said some important innovations in ACJA, which Nigerians should keep close to their chest and armed themselves is to know that ACJA Act prohibits arrest by proxy or arrest instead of parents, siblings, friends or relatives of suspects, prohibition of arrest in civil cases.
The ACJA also requires that trials should be on a day-to-day basis, where this is impracticable, the prosecution and the defendant are entitled to a maximum of five adjournments each from arraignment to judgment – with the interval between each adjournment not exceeding 14 days.
Okoro also said: “ACJA admits electronic recording of suspect’s statement, women are no longer prohibited from standing as sureties and quarterly report of arrests to the Attorney-General of the Federation by the Inspector-General of Police and head of every arresting agency.
“The ACJA also has guidelines to prevent abuse in a plea bargain, notification of cause of arrest, monthly report by Police to supervising magistrate, establishment of a Police Central Criminal Records Registry (CCRR), magistrate monthly inspection of police stations and other places of detention within his territorial jurisdiction.”
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