FG insists on total reform of Nigeria’s justice system

The Federal Government on Wednesday vowed to ensure the total reformation of the country’s criminal justice system.

The Attorney General of the Federation/ Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, made this known while addressing attorney generals of over fifteen states during the South-East Special Policy Summit on Criminal Justice Reforms, in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state.

Fagbemi noted that the summit serves as an avenue for promoting access to both civil and criminal justice, in terms of deployment of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Plea Bargaining and Restorative Justice in Civil and Criminal Justice Reforms in Nigeria.

He noted further that “It is not in doubt that an effective and efficient justice system is a panacea for peace, stability and economic growth and development in Nigeria’ and further revealed the committed efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take necessary steps to promote access to justice and rule of law in the country.”

According to him: “The current government, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’, is highly committed to transcending the status quo arid crafting a criminal justice system that not only meets the needs of the present but also sets a foundation for a more secure and prosperous future for our country.

“The Federal Government is also keying into the justice sector reforms to compliment what is happening today in the South-East.”

Responding, the Governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru said that judiciaries in many African countries, especially in Nigeria, had suffered from huge backlogs, delays and corruption, and such had affected speedy resolution of disputes in the country.

He further blamed the delay in dispensation of justice delivery in the country on politicians who allegedly buy their way into the judicial process.

“Political interference and corruption in the judicial process has contributed in no mean measure to delay in the sequence of vents in dispensation of justice in the Nigerian courts.

“Politicians buy their way into the judicial process and cause cases to linger to satisfy their political aggrandizement and ego. Police in this manner is paid to trump up charges, judges and magistrates are paid to remand and or refuse bail for the accused, etc,” he lamented.