ABUJA – A bill to provide for speedy and efficient criminal justice administration system in the country passed through second reading at the Senate on Wednesday.The bill also seeks to make provision for introduction of plea bargain into Nigeria’s criminal justice administration with clear guidelines for its implementation to avoid abuses.
The bill, sponsored by the Senate Leader, Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba, would repeal the extant Criminal Procedure Act and the Criminal Procedure (Northern States) Act and enact the Administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria.
Leading the debate, Ndoma-Egba, said that the primary objective of the bill was to ensure speedy and efficient administration of justice in the country.
He said the bill was also intended to bring together the existing Criminal Code and Penal Code in one body of law.
The senate leader explained that one body of law would promote uniformity, protect the rights of the accused and victims in criminal proceedings.
He said that the Nigerian criminal justice administration system had remained slow, ineffective and open to abuses for several decades.
“From the police stations to the courts and the prisons, the system has delivered everything but justice and the society has been the worse for it.
“It is common to see a court give maximum sentence to a petty thief while those who stole billions of naira from the public coffers get far lesser sanctions for their crimes when convicted by the court.
“Furthermore, it is impossible to have a sound economy without the solid foundation of good laws that can curb anti-social behaviours and other disruptive tendencies,’’ Ndoma-Egba said.
The bill proposes sentencing guidelines to avoid abuse of judges’ discretion and corruption, prohibit torture of arrested persons and the arrest of family members of persons suspected of committing a crime.
The bill also proposes a trial from day-to-day after and limits adjournment of cases to five times and not more than 14 days intervals between adjournments as well as electronic recording of trials.
Other key elements are inclusion of measures for checking prisons’ congestion, mandatory monthly visit to police cells and other detention facilities by chief magistrates to avoid detaining suspects longer than necessary.
Ndoma-Egba sai: “The bill contains several innovative ideas and promises to significantly improve the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
“It will save resources used in managing our over-populated prisons.
“No doubt, if this bill is passed into law, it has the potential to bring suspects to book within time and thus aid the battle against corruption and other social vices.’’
The Deputy Senate Leader, Sen. Abdul Ningi, said the bill would help to address most of the issues affecting speedy administration of justice.
“This bill is not only transformational but also revolutionary; this bill has been able to capture all the gaps which have been causing delay of justice,’’ he said.
Sen. Ita Enang (PDP-Akwa Ibom) said the bill would bring together all the criminal procedure codes being operated in the different parts of the country.
“As at today there is no unified criminal procedure code in the country.
“This bill will create one body of law and cut down on the unlimited time for trial,’’ Enang said.
Also contributing, Sen. Smart Adeyemi (PDP-Kogi) hailed the bill as being “highly progressive and reformative’’ because no society thrives without effective justice administration system.
“For our nation to achieve a total reform of our society, the administration of criminal justice must be effective to ensure nobody is seen to be above the law.
“This is one bill that will guarantee equality of all before the law, irrespective of status in the society,’’ he said.
Similarly, Sen. Chris Ngige (APC-Anambra) said: “This bill is a very reformative bill. It will help reform our judicial system and protect all the people from oppression.’’
In his remarks the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over plenary, said effort should be made to ensure the consolidation of the Criminal Code and the Penal Code.
Ekweremadu advised that the prisons reforms and police reforms must be pursued vigorously to ensure proper foundation for the police to carry out effective prosecution of offenders.
“It is important all these things are taken holistically so that we can have a robust reform of our justice administration system,’’ Ekweremadu said.
The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary for further legislative action and to report to the plenarywithin four weeks. (NAN)
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