By Abasi Ita,Calabar
Key actors within the judicial ecosystem have pinpointed poor budgetary provisions, ill trained manpower and dearth of refresher training programmes to keep judicial officers and the Police abreast with to trending development in the sector as major impediments militating against the smooth implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law in Cross River.
This was the unanimous position of the major stakeholders at the end of an Advocacy Workshop held in Calabar themed Increased Budgetary Allocation for Effective Oversight, Monitoring and Implementation of Administration’s of Criminal Justice Law in Cross River.
The workshop, packaged by Cleen Foundation,a Non Governmental Organization with focus on promoting public safety, security and justice through empirical research, legislative advocacy, demonstration programmes and publications with support from MacArthur Foundation drew participants from the Police, Nigerian Correctional Service, Ministry of Justice, Budget Office,House of Assembly, Nigerian Civil and Security Defense Corp,Human Rights Advocates as well as the Media.
In his submission,the Director of Public Prosecution,DPP,Cross River State Ministry of Justice,Okoi Ukam Esq lauded the brains behind the advent of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law assented by President Goodluck Jonathan in May 2015 and domesticated in the state years later through the efforts of NGOs and CSOs under Governor Ben Ayade.
According to Ukam who stood in for the Attorney General of the state and Commissioner of Justice, Ededem Ani Esq;”The advent of Administration of Criminal Justice Law or Act at the federal level is the most innovative concepts in the history of Nigerian legal system.
“It marks a major paradigm shift from the Criminal Procedure Law which was a colonial inheritance with several shortcomings that could not address glaring lapses or emerging challenges.
He continued;” The inadequacies of the Criminal Procedure Law gave birth to the ACJL which is meant to tackle those lapses. The ACJL seeks to uphold the rights and dignity of the suspect, fast track prosecution by giving specific time frame for matters to be concluded, expanded and libralising bail conditions such that now, a woman can take someone on bail unlike before.
“The ACJL also outlaw extra judicial method of obtaining statements arising from tortures, intimidations or harrassments. Now before a statement is obtain from a suspect,such a suspect is entitled to call his lawyer or relation as a witness while the IPO must record the session with a video camera using a phone to ensure such statement was not obtained under duress.
“Moreover,the police can not longer compel a suspect to plead guilty to a crime because the suspect is now at liberty to denounce such guilty plead by simply telling the court that he or she was compelled to do so and the IPO would be seriously reprimanded, while the statement will also be discarded by the court”
“The DPP continued; “However, the major constraints militating against effective implementation of the ACJL in our state include lack of well trained manpower, regular training programmes to enlighten the key actors like Police and judicial officers like judges and magistrates to keep them abreast with the ACJL.
“You will agree with me that after the six months training at Police Colleges,our police officers hardly attend any refreshers courses thorough their careers until most of them retires. Moreover, oftentimes,the legal unit in most Police Stations are manned by non lawyers.
“These stakeholders need to be trained and equipped to enable them be acquainted with the ludable provisions imbedded in the ACJL meant to uphold human dignity, promote speedy dispensation of justice with the view of decongesting our correctional facilities. Poor funding too has been a major setback no doubt but you can’t be funded when you don’t know what to do with the money”
Also speaking, the state coordinator, National Human Rights Council,Remi Ajuga decried the rippling effects of poor funding, noting that financial constraints facing key sectors in the system inadvertently effect arraignment of suspects in courts by the Police and Correctional Centres.
Ajuga opined that;”In order to attain the focal objectives of ACJL which entails reducing the stress of inmates while upholding their dignity as humans,we have to mainstream ACJL into the budgeting process to get the priority attention deserving of the ACJL. With adequate funding, the Nigerian Correctional Service will be able to transport inmates to court for hearings without fuel constraints. The Police and the courts will function effectively without resort to standard operating procedures which contradict ACJL or undue adjournments triggered by paucity of funds and unconducive working environment.
“Apart from funding, training and enlightenment programmes for those within the judicial spectrum is of utmost importance. We also need periodic reviews to forge effective collaboration for optimum results.
“For instance,ACJL mandates us to visit the Correctional Facilities periodically to profile the detainees for necessary recommendations to guard against congestions. But each time we visit for such exercise, it’s always a tug of way with the officers to gain access to inmates’
Commenting,the OC Legal,Cross River Police Command Otu Victor Esq revealed that; ” In compliance with the ACJL,the Police Force has outlawed torturing suspects to obtain confessional statements. Suspects in our custody can now call their lawyers or relations to witness as we extract statements while such scenes must also be recorded for verification. Moreover,any officer caught torturing a suspect in order to obtain statement or plead guilty in lieu of some ulterior motives is seriously dealt with in tandem with orderly room trials”
In his remarks,the Permanent Secretary, Budget Office,Peter Ukalala called for effective collaboration between the stakeholders to guarantee for viable budgetary inputs during collation process.
In his words” The Budget Office is disposed to a effective collaboration towards ensuring optimum implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law in Cross River State. But we need to work together to get your inputs submitted on time through the supervising MDAs”
Earlier, the Programme Manager,Cleen Foundation,Chigozirim Okoro disclosed that the workshop was floated as part of the enlightenment campaign to acquaint stakeholders with the provisions of ACJL while building a robust synergy to guarantee optimum results in terms of its implementation in the state.