Asaba Conference on Criminal Justice Reform: Keynote Speaker Calls for a Reform of Attitudes
The keynote speaker at the ongoing NBA Criminal Justice Reform Conference in Asaba, Delta State, Hon. Justice Ishaq Bello, who is also the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory and Chairman of the Presidential Committee on the Decongestion of Prisons, has called for ‘attitudinal reform’ and a willingness to ‘think out of the box’ in terms of lawyers’ and judges’ ability to do away with outmoded laws and especially processes. For instance, Justice Bello said, there has to be a more robust and wholistic witness protection mechanism in all states of the country. Failure to do this over the years, he said, has cast the justice system, including the courts, in very bad light in the eyes of those who should rightly look up to it.
Concerning the enactment of ACJA in 2015, Justice called on all jurisdictions – especially states and local authorities – to domesticate its provisions in their own laws and statutes, even if they feel obliged to modify some of the said provisions to reflect their peculiar circumstances.
NEWSWIRE Law & Events Magazine correspondent in Asaba reports that the CJ reserved some of his harshest words for the practice of ‘farming out’ prosecutorial roles to non-lawyers (or ‘lay prosecutors,’ in legal terminology). Attributing this practice to the tendency of most Nigerian judges and lawyers to be generalists rather than specialists, Justice Bello admitted that this practice could be permitted in given cases – especially where there is a dearth of trained legal professionals, and the system has to resort to police officers, among others.
Making the point that ACJA was aimed at eliminating unnecessary interlocutory appeals, he called on appellate courts to show greater firmness to avoid the consequences of such appeals – which include the much-talked-about congestion of prisons and the extortion of families of inmates. He called on high court judges and CJs to ensure de-clogging of cases, especially by means of enforceable practice directions such as the 2-week rule for prosecutorial processes.
Hon. Justice Bello ended by stressing that the administration of justice in Nigeria was not the exclusive responsibility of the judiciary. The judiciary, he said, is only responsible for the adjudication of cases, but all other duties, such as the provision of relevant infrastructure, was the responsibility of the executive.
