UN, Prison Fellowship brainstorm on justice sector reform

In a bid to improve the justice system in Nigeria, the United Nations, Federal and Lagos State Governments have partnered with the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria on training of Police officers, Prison and other officials involved in justice administration in the country.

During the training, members of the Nigeria Police, Prison Services and Ministries of justice engaged in a brainstorming session to improve justice system in the country.

About 75 participants comprising  Magistrates, Police officers, Prison officers, Prosecutors from Ministry of Justice & social volunteers participated in the workshop termed “Restorative Justice Diversion and Mediation in criminal matters”, which ended in Lagos last week.

Assistant Director, International Cooperation Department, Mr. Johnson Bareyei, said the training was necessary to put Nigeria on the right track in her justice system.

“We have a major task to ensure that the country achieves its objectives in terms of development. One of the key ingredient of national development is rule of law and good governance. In their absence, development will be a mirage.

“Unfortunately over the years, our judicial system has been bedevilled with a lot of challenges.  We still have a lot of inmates awaiting trial and when people are not sure that they will receive justice, they may wrongfully begin to take laws into their hands,” he said.

The Project Coordinator (Support to the Justice sector in Nigeria), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Dr Uju Agomoh, noted that the justice system in Nigeria needed to be improved upon.

She recommended that the country should upgrade her justice system by adopting and implementing restorative justice system. She said: “The criminal justice system in Nigeria do have some challenges but we have noticed certain attempt to address those issues. Part of which is the passage of the Criminal Justice Act in the country.  We are also looking at intervening in the problem by coordinating programmes as well as building the capacity of justice sector institutions.