CSLS Justice Ministry & Rolac Trains Justice Sector Operators On ACJC In Adamawa

CSLS, Justice Ministry & Rolac trains justice sector operators on ACJC in Adamawa

From Umar Dankano, Yola.

Centre For Socio-Legal Studies, CSLC in partnership with Rule of law and Anti-Corruption,Rolac and Federal Ministry of Justice have organized a two day capacity building training on for the justice sector operators in Adamawa state.

The training workshop commenced in Yola on Monday was said to be a move to adopt the National Minimum Standard NMS for the administration of Criminal justice law (ACJA) in compliance with global best practices.

In his address, President of the Centre, Professor Yemi Akinseye George (SAN) advanced that, the rationale behind the training is to ensure effective and efficient justice delivery system in the country.

Professor George stressed that the training will provide a platform to promote a deeper understanding by the ACJA Rangers and the general public of the National Minimum Standards for the effective implementation of the ACJA.

He explained that the workshop is a collaborative project between the CSLS, the FMOJ and ACJA Rangers in the FCT and 7 focal states of RoLAC noting that, It is being implemented with the funding support from RoLAC/IIDEA international and that by the end of this Workshop, more Rangers would emerge and be added to the growing community of ACJA/ACJL Rangers nationwide.

“Through this Workshop, we are sharing the knowledge of the NMS which is designed as a tool to consolidate the gains recorded in the implementation of the ACJA in the last few years. The Standards are drawn from the federal ACJA and the ACJLs of States.

“As you are aware, the body of Attorneys-General in the country under the able chairmanship of the HAGF, Prince Lateef Fagbemi has adopted the National Minimum Standards as a basis for implementing reform and measuring impact by justice sector agencies and operatives.

“The NMS Document has also been adopted by the body of Solicitors General and Permanent Secretaries of the various Ministries of Justice across the country,” he said.

Earlier in his remarks, the state chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association,NBA. Yola Branch ,Barrister Idi Ali said that the implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJA) is to ensure the attainment of national minimum standard in compliance with best practices.

Ali expressed confidence that the training will provide additional impetus to the operators of the justice sector to work towards attaining the national minimum standard.

“This is a very important training for lawyers, prosecutors and defence counsels including people who are adjudicating criminal cases at the lower court level. It is a very important milestone in the ACJ in Adamawa State,” he said.

“The coming of the ACJA has significantly addressed delays in proceedings, congestion, and overcrowding as a result of the salient and new provisions in the law that are been accentuated today as we get closer to the promised land.

“Despite the fact that the ACJA has made significant impact, I must confess we are working against the background of the procedural law in criminal matters which has been around for over 60 years. So people have to gradually learn the ropes in terms of current best practices in criminal cases.

“But ACJA has made significant progress especially in trials at the high courts. The high courts are in tune with the administration of criminal justice but we will ensure our members try to meet up with the minimum standards. We have made progress so far in that direction,” he said.

Chiamaka Nnadika Anyaegbu, Adamawa State coordinator of CSLS noted that the training aims to validate the national minimum standard adopted by the attorney general of the federation, the attorney generals of the states ministry of justice and offices of the attorney generals of the states.

“We have just adopted the national minimum standard which was adopted for the national level. Now we are here in Adamawa State and basically what we did today is adopt the validated national minimum standard as adopted by the attorney general of the federation, the attorneys of the states, ministry of justice, office of the solicitor general of the states.

“The NMS is basically about the evaluation of the implementation of the ACJL in Adamawa State so to evaluate the implementation of the state to know the level of implementation whether they are abiding with the content of the law. Now there is what is called a national minimum standard where each state is going to be judged equally,” she said.