Page 3 Comment, Weekend Trust of Saturday January 25, 2025
- We call for fresh reform of Nigeria’s criminal justice system to eliminate delays. Our legal system is abysmally slow, thereby delaying the dispensation of justice as it should be. Justice delayed is justice denied
According to data by the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) on the population of Convicts and Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs) as at January 13, 2025, out of total inmate population of 79,518, a total of 53,440 are awaiting trial, while 26,078 are convicted. The ATPs comprise 52,161 males and 1,279 females. This shows 67 per cent awaiting trial inmates against 33 per cent convicted inmates.
The NCoS summary also shows that the ‘Inmate Population Convicted For Non – Custodial Measures’ as at January 2025 is 341, with 278 on community service and 28 on probation. While the correctional agency has no inmate under parole, 69 are under ‘Restorative Justice.’
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s 240 correctional centres, at full capacity, can only accommodate 50, 153 inmates.
The acting Comptroller-General of the NCoS, Mr Sylvester Nwakuche, said during his maiden interactive session with field officers on Monday, January 6, 2025, in Abuja that “non-bailable offences like armed robbery and murder constitute over 60 per cent of Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs).”
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that no fewer than 65 correctional facilities are overcrowded in South-West, Nigeria and the same situation is obtained in the South-South. Similarly, all the facilities in the South- East are overcrowded. The North has its own share of overcrowding too.
Indeed, the high number of ATPs in the NCoS custody is a reflection of the failure of Nigeria’s criminal justice system to deliver justice. Lawyers and rights activists blame the Nigeria Police Force for the high numbers as most cases are delayed through their mode of arrests and filing of wrong charges to wrong courts or interference in purely civil matters under different guises. Sometimes, suspects allege being intimidated into giving confessions that are later disowned, leading to long trials and delays.
Most times, the police arraign suspects of capital punishment, such as murder, armed robbery and rape cases at the Magistrates’ Court, which lacks jurisdiction to hear them, just to remand them pending advice from the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) domiciled in the Ministry of Justice of every state before the case goes to the High Court. This sometimes results to cases of missing files, which often make suspects remain in detention for months or years.
Sometimes magistrates give stringent bail conditions for minor offences, meaning that suspects would have no choice but to be remanded in correctional centres while their lawyers fight the battle of ensuring justice.
Undeniably, the large number of ATPs raises severe human rights issues. Records show that some prisoners spend more time awaiting trial than perhaps they would have had they been sentenced in a court, that is, if they were found guilty after all. Some inmates die in the process, being denied of their human rights.
The inhumane treatment of inmates aside, overcrowded prisons cost a lot of money as government spends a lot annually on feeding of awaiting trial inmates alone. More so, Nigeria has experienced a number of jailbreaks across the country, resulting in the escape of over 7,000 prisoners since 2010. And this often takes place in congested prisons outside major cities.
We call for fresh reform of Nigeria’s criminal justice system to eliminate delays. Our legal system is abysmally slow, thereby delaying the dispensation of justice as it should be. Justice delayed is justice denied. We call on the country’s prosecutorial agencies to wake up. It is time the police conducted sufficient investigations and had the required evidence before effecting arrests.
We also call for basic legal training for police prosecutors towards efficient prosecution of cases. While exercising their mandate of prevention and detection of crime, apprehension of offenders, preservation of law and order, protection of life and property and the enforcement of all laws and regulations and prosecution of cases, the police should be discretionary in holding charges against a person suspected of having committed an offence before a Magistrate’s Court, to remand the accused pending the conclusion of investigation.
Magistrates’ courts should also stop arbitrary issuance of remand order. It is an affront on the country’s legal system.
Moreover, the NCoS should, in conjunction with the judiciary, law enforcement and prosecuting bodies, and other relevant bodies and institutions, implement its mandate under the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019 to administer noncustodial measures, including community service, probation, parole, restorative justice measures and any other none custodial measure assigned by a court of competent jurisdiction. This will help to reduce inmate population.
We also call for efficient implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) passed by National Assembly in 2015 and domesticated by the 36 states of the federation in order to promote efficient management of criminal justice institutions and speedy dispensation of justice.
In addition, the federal and state governments should employ the use of prerogative of mercy in decongesting the prisons. Already, the federal government has inaugurated the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM) to help in expediting the grant of presidential pardon to convicts serving various jail terms across custodial centres in the country.
We call on the PACPM panel to work diligently and turn in actionable recommendations for onward transmission to the president to use his powers under section 175(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
Also, the visit of state chief judges to prisons should help in this direction. More so, there are established cases of awaiting trial inmates not meeting bail conditions, forcing them to languish in jail. We, therefore, call on public-spirited individuals and non-governmental organisations to help in this direction.
