CLEEN Foundation has called on Media Practitioners to promote and ensure the compliance of stakeholders in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA.
The Foundation says the role of Media practitioners to investigate compliance to the Administration of Criminal Justice Act provisions by criminal justice actors in Nigeria cannot be overemphasised.
It stresses that the Media role 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.
Its Executive Director, Gad Peter says Media must play its critical role of ensuring that stakeholders in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, carry out their duties as ACJA is a pivotal legislation aimed at reforming and modernising the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria.
According to him, the media needs to monitor, investigate and work together with stakeholders towards achieving a more efficient, transparent, and rights-respecting criminal justice system in Nigeria.
Peter who is flanked by Cleen Foundation Director of Program, Salaudeen Hashim and Cleen Foundation Admin & Programme Officer, Blessing Eromon stated this at a Media Presentation of the Policy Brief on Status of Stakeholders’ Compliance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act with the support from MacArthur Foundation in Ikeja, Lagos.
Peter urged stakeholders in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act to redouble their efforts to ensure full compliance with the Act.
He said it is imperative that the Administration of Criminal Justice Committees be activated and funded across all the states, noting that there was also a challenge with budgeting from all the agencies around the implementation of the innovations.
Cleen Foundation Director of Program, Salaudeen Hashim informed that thirty-three states have domesticated the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, while other states are either in the process or the law is sitting dock.
According to Hashim, States that have domesticated include; Lagos, Ekiti, Ondo, Cross River, Edo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Kano, Taraba, Katsina, Kaduna and others.
Hashim noted that the implementation of the Act will not only help to modernise the criminal justice system in Nigeria, but also create platforms for transparency and accountability of the criminal justice actors.
He said the objective of the Act is to engender widespread criminal justice reform by encouraging the domestication of the criminal justice act and promoting smooth implementation of the new criminal justice regime.
Hashim noted that the ACJA has been described as a revolutionary procedural criminal legislation due to the several innovations it has introduced in the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria.
Speaking on “Status Of Stakeholders Compliance With ACJA Regime In Nigeria’ he added that the practice, if judiciously implemented, can resolve the quagmire of unlawful detention in Nigeria.
He said despite the prospects of these innovative provisions of the ACJA, several challenges, such as administrative bottlenecks, a lack of or poor funding, threaten their viability.
“Sections 8(1)(a) and (b) of the ACJA provides that a suspect shall be accorded humane treatment, having regard to his right to the dignity of his person, and not be subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
He however concluded that the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee (ACJMCs) that what marks out the major gap in the ACJL implementation in most focal states is that the Ministry of Justice does not even budget for its implementation.
“This is so with the Ministry of Police Affairs and Interior was meant to be the monitoring arm of the ACJA/L implementation at the state level is either non existence or not functional. This therefore has made it very difficult to enforce and report compliance.
“There is an oversight gap in the management of the ACJL implementation at the state level and this has therefore generated complacency amongst stakeholders.
Hashim called for an urgent need to improve the capacity of gender lenses in the ACJL implementation, saying there are still gaps bothering around the inability for women to bail or serve as sureties; “We cannot effectively defeat non compliance without addressing its drivers and vigorously prosecuting offenders.