NBA2017ACJAC: Promoting the domestication and implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 (ACJA)

The #NBA2017ACJAC is a day away and participants are revving up for the most auspicious engagement on the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria.

The Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 is divided into 48 parts with 495 sections. It merges the two principal legislations i.e. the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) and the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). Thus, the ACJA 2015 repealed the CPA, CPC and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. Substantially, the provisions of the Act preserved the existing criminal procedure systems. But it introduces innovative provisions that could enhance the efficiency of the justice system.

It is important to note that unlike the CPA and the CPC, the ACJA adopts a more acceptable trend used in the Evidence Act, 2011, where persons standing trial for criminal offences are not described as “accused persons”, but as “defendants”. The provisions of the Act apply to criminal trials for any offences established by an Act of the National Assembly and other offences punishable in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, however it does not apply to a Court Martial as stated in section 2(2) of the Act; and does not apply within States except same is domesticated by the respective states.

Since the introduction of the ACJA 2015, only 8 States of the Federation including Lagos State have successfully domesticated the Act; thus making it imperative for increased efforts to promote the domestication and harmonized implementation of the ACJA 2015 across Nigeria in order to tackle existing and emerging areas of crime and criminality as well as ensure the effective and efficient administration of the criminal justice system. This would involve the collaborative efforts of all tiers of governments and their relevant agencies in Nigeria as well as all stakeholders in governance.

Thus the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) with sole support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation began the “The ACJA Project” campaign to ensure successful domestication and implementation of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act, 2015 in 28 States of the Federation who are yet to be ACJA compliant.

The ACJA Project is embarked upon by the NBA pursuant to Article 3 (1) (c) of NBA Constitution which provides that the aims and objectives of the NBA shall include the “improvement of the system of administration of justice, its procedures and the arrangement of court business and regular law reporting”. This has been on the front burner of the A. B. Mahmoud, SAN led administration and is the core of the present ACJA Project.

The first in the series of the ACJA project campaigns is the Administration of Criminal Justice Conference 2017 (#NBA2017ACJAC); a high-level consultative forum for key stakeholders on the domestication and implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act by States that are yet to do so. The Conference is scheduled to hold on the 9th of November, 2017, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja – Nigeria, and is strictly by invitation.

Beyond the November 9, 2017 conference, The NBA will take “the ACJA project” campaign to the remaining 28 States, to ensure that the innovations introduced in the ACJA are uniformly and independently adopted by all states of the Federation.

Furthermore, the NBA intends to establish long-term capacity development and continuing legal education training on provisions of the ACJA for legal practitioners in Nigeria, through the NBA/ICLE E-learning platform, continuing legal education Courses, toolkits and resources on the ACJA 2015 to legal practitioners and the general public, and facilitated Trainings of Trainers.

The NBA shall also seek partnerships with selected Grantees of the MacArthur Foundation and other technical partners such as the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), CLEEN Foundation, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Department for International Development (DFID) for technical assistance on the drafting of model laws and development of content for CLE.

It would be recalled that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015) was signed into law on May 15, 2015.The substance of the Act, contained in Section 1 of ACJA 2015, states that: “The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the system of administration of criminal justice in Nigeria promotes efficient management of criminal justice institutions, speedy dispensation of Justice, protection of the society from crime and protection of the rights and interests of the suspect, defendant and the victim”; and to this end, the Nigerian Bar Association under the visionary leadership of A. B. Mahmoud, OON, SAN, is purposed to standardise the administration of criminal Justice procedure across the 36 States of Nigeria.
We look forward to welcoming all participants at the Conference.

Welcome to #ABraveNewBar.

Signed:
#NBA2017ACJAC Media and Publicity Sub-Committee