Skip to main content

Legal experts demand designated courts to try criminal cases - The Great Case

How to Seduce Straight Guys

Buhari's minister denies eyeing Fayemi's job

By Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja

As the trial of criminal cases continues to be delayed in most courts, some legal experts, Monday, demanded designated courts to try criminal cases and assign judges appropriately.

They made the demand at the Cleen Foundation and the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, bi-monthly meeting on the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, held in Abuja.

They asserted that criminal cases should be given more priority based on the issue of the delayed dispensation of justice, which ought not to be, which they called on Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, to add their weight to press on the judiciary to have special courts to speedily try criminal cases.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Four rescued, two dead, one missing in Lagos boat mishap

Also speaking was the Legal Adviser of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Tosin Olufon, said the slow pace in trial of criminal cases has made the ACJA Act not meeting its objectives.

Olufon added that if judges are appointed for criminal cases it would greatly take away workload that will also enhance speed in trying other cases in courts.

The Secretary of the Monitoring Committee of the ACJA FCT, Suleiman Kuku Dawodu, pointed out some militating factors bedeviling the smooth implementation of the ACJA Act, which include lack of discipline of Defence lawyer; lack of designation of court for criminal cases; lack of Prosecutors; lack of judges; lack of data; and the lack of the political to reform the judiciary.

According to Dawodu there is an increase of corruption at the lower courts, which is becoming worrisome, as defense counsels most times to bribe court officials to get court sittings postponed and also to defer judgment.

The Data Officer, Cleen Foundation, Chukwuma Ejerinwa, also highlighted some issues affecting the smooth implementation of the ACJA Act; lack of witnesses, lack of good interpreter, abuse of remand warrant, lack of electronic recording of the confessional statement, keeping central registry, and database of a criminal record.

READ ALSO: National Water Resources Bill is a move towards RUGA colonisation ― Soyinka

However, participants recommended that the judiciary and anti-graft agencies need to be properly coordinated to harmonise and synergise for greater impact in the system. some of the recommendations include continuous training of anti-graft agencies on ACJA 2015; accelerated hearing for effective dispensation of justice; litigants to accept plea bargaining for effective and accelerated cases in courts; pay witnesses stipends as motivation; adequate enforcement of section 16 of the ACJA; proper keeping of central criminal registry and database of criminal records.

Meanwhile, Programme Analyst, ANEEJ, Aitopa Henry Paul, traced delay in the criminal justice system too bureaucratic bottlenecks in government that have negatively impacted the implementation of the ACJA Act.

“There is a need for the capacity of the anti-graft and security agencies, the Police, EFCC, CSOs on the ACJA for instance on the interrogation of the suspect by the police, how the correctional service address the prison inmates. CSOs are working with them to bring about change”, he added.

Vanguard

The post Legal experts demand designated courts to try criminal cases appeared first on Vanguard News.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

China is preparing an antitrust probe into ― Google - The Great Case

How to Seduce Straight Guys China is preparing to launch an antitrust probe into Google, looking into allegations it has leveraged the dominance of its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition, two people familiar with the matter said. The case was proposed by telecommunications equipment giant Huawei last year and has been submitted by the country’s top market regulator to the State Council’s antitrust committee for review, they added. A decision on whether to proceed with a formal investigation may come as soon as October and could be affected by the state of China’s relationship with the US, one of the people said. ALSO READ:  How my mum died on my father’s birthday, Davido reveals The potential investigation follows a raft of actions by US President Donald Trump’s administration to hobble Chinese tech companies, citing national security risks. This has included putting Huawei on its trade blacklist, threatening similar action for Semiconductor Manufacturing...

NITDA cautions Nigerians on new email-based attack from Solarwindhackers - The Great Case

How to Seduce Straight Guys By Emmanuel Elebeke The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has cautioned Nigerians against a new email-based attack from Solarwindhackers. According to NITDA, Microsoft, a world-renown multinational technology company uncovered a widespread malicious email campaign undertaken by the hacking group- NOBELIUM and warned Nigerians not to fall for it. According to NITDA, the cybercriminals leverage the legitimate mass-mailing service to masquerade as a US-based development organisation and distribute malicious URLs to a wide variety of organisations especially government organisations, non-government organisations (NGOs), think-tanks, military, IT service providers, health technology, and research, and telecommunications providers. ALSO READ:  UPDATED: Property worth millions of naira destroy as fire guts Ladipo spare parts market, building in Lagos “Their antics involve the use of emails claiming to be an alert from USAID abou...

PZ Cussons Foundation supports hand washing against COVID-19 - The Great Case

How to Seduce Straight Guys By Chioma Obinna PZ Cussons Foundation in collaboration with Foundation for Refugee Economic Empowerment is donating soaps to over 40,000 people towards controlling the spread of COVID-19 in six Nigerian cities. Foundation for Refugee Economic Empowerment (FREE) is the UK and Nigerian Charity that aims to provide high quality, timely, accountable, and inclusive humanitarian assistance to displaced persons towards enabling them to return to normal and sustainable productive lives. Disclosing this in a statement by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of PZ Cussons Foundation, Professor Eyitayo Lambo, the Foundation stated that: “We have since learned that one of the simple ways to stay protected against the coronavirus is by consistent handwashing with soap. READ ALSO:  COVID-19: Reps maintain stand on 2 months free electricity to Nigerians — SPOKESMAN Sadly, however, not everyone can afford to do this. So, the PZ Cussons Foundation has partnered ...