NBA chairman urges government to embrace criminal justice system

The chairman of the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Prince Dele Oloke has called on governments at all levels to embrace sound criminal justice system in the country.

He said without this, there can never be a peaceful country.

The branch chairman disclosed this at the launching of Lagos State Resource Centre on a project “Promoting Accountability and Transparency in the Administration of Criminal Justice System in Nigeria”, organised by CLEEN Foundation with the support of the MacArthur Foundation held at the Bar Centre, Ikeja.

In his address, Oloke described corruption as a canker worm that eats into the fabric of the nation. He added that, if it is not checked through a sound criminal justice system, it will strip the nation naked and without peace.

The Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Dr. Benson Olugbuo, in his welcome address, said the Resource Centre initiative for hosting soft and hard copies of corruption judgments, is part of the non-governmental organisation’s ongoing project on promoting accountability and transparency in the administration of criminal justice system in Nigeria.

According to him, the project principally seeks to monitor cases of corruption in relation to the ACJA 2015 through a web-based platform- Uwazi which is functional, accessible and within the reach of the public.

“This project geared towards making information, recent cases laws-hard copies of court ruling/judgements with application of ACJA, on corruption and accountability easily accessible (online and offline) to legal practitioners, law enforcement agencies, judges, prosecutors, defendants, government agencies responsible for the administration of criminal justice, civil society organizations working for justice sector reforms, legal scholars and researchers.

Olughuo was represented by the Program Advisor, CLEEN Foundation, Blessing Abiri. “It is against this background that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has been selected to serve as a partner to host the resource Centre in Lagos State,” he said.