Background

After Nigeria had transitioned from a military regime to civilian regime in 1999, the distortion of the judiciary by the military continued. Delays in the administration of criminal justice remained a major challenge. Judicial personnel were inadequate. Use of modern management technology in case management techniques were absent. Effective coordination and cohesion was also absent among justice institutions, causing many accused persons to await trial and for prisons, particularly urban ones, to be congested.

Past Reform and Achievements

To reform the judiciary, the government sent to the National Assembly a draft bill aimed at removing such abuses as frivolous injunctions, interlocutory motions, and unnecessary adjournments from court processes; towards enhancing the speedy dispensation of justice and ending corruption among judges.

A number of Acts were then enacted to further reform the sector: Freedom of Information Act (2011) to enhance transparency and accountability; Evidence Act (2011) to institute the use of computer-generated evidence which hitherto was inadmissible; Legal Aid Council Act (2011) to widen access to justice irrespective of financial means; Money Laundering Prohibition Act (2011) to fight money laundering; and Terrorism Prevention Act (2011) and Cybercrime Act (2011) to address the new insecurity problems of terrorism and cybercrime respectively. A Federal Justice Sector Reform Committee (FJSRC) was also established, and it has brought to fore the need for a comprehensive review of the long outdated Nigerian Prisons Standing Order.

Challenges and Next Steps

Bills addressing human rights, community service, domestic violence, police reform, and prison reform should also be enacted. The ‘holding charge practice’ should be reviewed. Sentencing policies should be reviewed to make the justice process more effective and the prisons less congested. Judicial integrity should be made paramount, and judges and other judicial personnel held accountable at all times for misconduct. The rule of law should also be made paramount, to ensure public confidence in the judiciary. The treatment of prisoners should be benchmarked against the United Nations minimum standard.