ACJA: Centre, justice ministry to hold workshop on implementation

A national workshop on minimum standards for the effective implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) and the domesticated versions in the states has been fixed for December 9.

The two-day workshop, which is being organised by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS) and the Federal Ministry of Justice, is expected to among other things; promote common standards for assessing the performance of the federal government and the various states in providing sound system of criminal justice in the country.

While addressing journalists on Monday at the pre-event briefing, the convener of the workshop, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), said the workshop would also promote the development of modern system of criminal justice administration in the country.

“Participants will know how to use the criminal justice system to achieve social and economic progress and crime prevention. The minimum standards agreed will be used to assess the states and the federal government. 

“This will create a healthy competition amongst the states. This will ultimately strengthen democracy by creating an effective system of criminal justice administration,” he said.

Akinseye-George, who is the president of CSLS, added that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammed would chair the workshop while the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) would be the chief host and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu would be the special guest.

To underscore the importance of the workshop to justice administration in the country, participants, he said, are expected to include chief judges of various courts and their chief registrars, attorneys-general and solicitors-general of the 36 states, commissioners of police and the officers in charge of legal of the various police commands.

He said the centre has been working since 2006 with stakeholders and development partners for improvements in the criminal justice system. 

“We played a crucial role in the passage of the ACJA 2015 and we have conducted several training programmes for building the capacity of the criminal justice agencies to effectively implement the Act,” he said.

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