On May 29, 2011, a new administration was inaugurated in Nigeria under the leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.  In his inaugural speech, President Jonathan said that the time for lamentation is over and that the era of transformation is here.  One of the areas that requires urgent transformation is the Justice Sector, especially the Criminal Justice System.  The Criminal Justice System is of prime importance in the life of Nigeria.  The concepts of democracy, Rule of Law, protection of human rights, security, economic development and foreign investment cannot be sustained without a reliable and dependable criminal justice delivery system.  The reality is that there is general consensus that the criminal justice system is weak and therefore not well equipped to play this role.

However, in whatever context one chooses to look at the criminal justice system at any level, the problems are legion; over populated prisons, lengthy trials, abuse and violation of fundamental human rights etc.  States have protested the probity of having prisons and the police under federal control when majority of the crimes committed are state offences, the issue of amnesty/state pardon has of recent also sparked some controversy between the state and Federal Government.

The Legal Aid Council does not have the capacity to come to the aid of all who apply for aid, and while civil society tries to do its bit these inmates are coming in faster than they are going out.

Recent efforts at reforming this outdated and dysfunctional sytem date back over a quarter of a century to the tenure of Bola Ajibola SAN as Minister of Justice and Attorney-General.  In the period since Nigeria returned to civil rule in May 1999, legislative proposals to reform criminal procedure, evidence and prisons have languished in the National Assembly with no tangible outcome.  In 2010, after more than nine years and two parliamentary sessions, the House of Representatives finally passed a bill for the reform of legal aid.  At the beginning of 2011, this Bill was passed before the Senate for Third Reading.

Since 2005, Nigeria’s Federal Government has commissioned and received the reports of various eminent committees, panels and commissions which examined various aspects of the criminal justice system and submitted recommendations to government, including:

• A ministerial committee on prisons audit in 2005;
• Two presidential commissions on police reform in 2006 and 2008;
• A ministerial committee on reform of the evidence act in 2006-07; and
• A presidential commission on administration of justice reform in 2007

The Nigerian Bar Association is committed to the transformation of the criminal justice sector in Nigeria.  It recognizes the very important role of the sector and the fundamental role of lawyers in the reform and growth of this sector.  As laudable as the on going criminal justice sector reform initiatives might be, the NBA feels that much still remains to be done.  It recognizes that there is an advocacy dimension to the reform process.  The advocacy initiative of the NBA is two pronged:

• Policy advocacy and
• Public advocacy

The policy advocacy is aimed at the policy makers to bring to their notice the urgent nature of justice reform and to encourage them to view it as a priority issue.  Public advocacy on the other hand is targeted at Nigerians with a view to stimulating interest and discussions amongst average Nigerians on the need for them to support the reform initiatives and see themselves as stakeholders in the process.  It will further highlight the link between the protection of individual rights and the efficiency of the criminal justice delivery system.

It is against this background that the NBA in 2007 embarked on a national needs assessment of the Justice Sector in general to present the view of lawyers on the state of the justice sector and recommend actions for reform.  The NBA believes that there are more than enough findings and recommendations to turn around the justice sector.  However, the sector is still subsumed in the cluster and has not been given the prominence and attention it deserves.  As such the recommendations have not been translated into action because of the low priority given to the sector.  The assessment was not a duplication of earlier efforts but rather a complimentary effort of the NBA on the advocacy bit of justice sector reform.  It presented for the first time the justice sector through the lens of practicing lawyers.

The findings in that report arose from a collation of questionnaire administered to the 88 branches of the Nigerian Bar and the Stakeholders Forum on Justice Sector Reform in Nigeria.  The questions centered most on the courts, police, prisons and the regime of court rules in the country.  It is expected that this handbook will aid the efforts of reform enthusiasts to bring the issue of justice sector reform to actualization.

The NBA has also demonstrated its commitment to the reform of the criminal justice system by advocating for the resuscitation of the Administration of Justice Commission, AJC. This Commission was established by the Administration of Justice Commission of 1991, Cap A3 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. It is charged with the duty of supervising and monitoring key institutions of the justice sector.  As at the time of writing this piece, the Commission has not been activated.

While the advocacy for the reactivation of the AJC is going on, the NBA decided to convene this all important Conference on the reform of the criminal justice system in Nigeria. This Conference, which is aimed at setting the agenda and agreeing on a programme of work, will not only trigger off legislative reform especially in respect of the Criminal Justice Reform Bill pending in the National Assembly but will also trigger off constitutional amendment of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999.

Part of the reasons for this conference because the NBA is worried that so much effort has been put into the reform of the Criminal Justice Sector but we are yet to see the concrete impact of such initiatives. There have been so many talk shops, plethora of recommendations yet the Criminal Justice Sector is on the decline. The NBA recognizes that the importance of the Sector needs to be emphasized. It is on the basis of this that the NBA embarked upon all these initiatives.

Now that President Goodluck E. Jonathan has proclaimed to embark upon transformation of key instiutions, the Criminal Justice System must be kept in the front burner of national discourse. The NBA invites all stakeholders to be part of this process to reform the Criminal Justice System. The moment we stop trying to reform this sector, that moment we will lose it as a nation. The NBA invites all to join this campaign.

By Osita Okoro