*Highlights benefits of plea-bargain
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The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Tuesday said the justice system in Nigeria is presently fraught with a lot of challenges that prolong adjudication time and most times frustrate parties.
Malami, who spoke at the virtual roundtable to review the draft guidelines on plea bargaining for Federal Prosecutors, said the effective deployment of plea bargain provisions will reduce the financial cost of prosecutions, hasten the trial process, eliminate the uncertainty of trials, enhance the quick return of stolen assets, and generally enhance the efficiency of the criminal justice system.
The purpose of the draft guidelines is to promote standardization and consistency in plea bargain (including the compounding of offences) by federal prosecutors as well as ensure that the principles of accountability, equity, integrity, and transparency are observed in reaching plea bargain agreements across the board.
The draft, he pointed out provides further support to the existing code of conduct and prosecutorial guidelines for federal prosecutors which generally regulate the conducts and actions of federal prosecutors in the exercise of their prosecutorial discretion.
He said the development of the draft guidelines is one of the strategic interventions by his Ministry towards ensuring lasting reforms in the Criminal Justice Sector in Nigeria.
The purpose of ACJA 2015, as detailed in section 1(1), he said, is to guarantee that the system of administration of criminal justice in Nigeria: promotes the efficient management of criminal justice institutions; ensures speedy dispensation of justice, protects the society from crime and protects the rights and interests of the suspect, the defendant and the victim.
According to the minister, “one of the major innovations of ACJA aimed at achieving these objectives is the introduction of plea bargain which is defined in section 494(1) as the process in criminal proceedings whereby the defendant and the prosecution work out a mutually acceptable disposition of the case, including the plea of the defendant to a lesser offence than that charged in the complaint or information and in conformity with other conditions imposed by the prosecution, in return for a lighter sentence than that of the higher charge subject to the court’s approval.
“Section 270 of the ACJA (2015) provides the general legal framework for the application of Plea Bargain. I believe that this provision can also be effectively deployed to address the compounding of offences that features in some statutes but without any procedural detail to aid its application.
“This lacuna is responsible for abuses in the compounding of offences which had strengthened the current public scepticism about plea bargaining in general. In spite of the laudable provisions of section 270 of the ACJA, there is no doubt that these provisions are inadequate to guide the prosecutor and the defendant in reaching a plea bargain that ensures the protection of public interest, the interest of justice and prevents abuse of legal process,” he added.
The draft, he said was developed by the ACJA Reform Department in collaboration with the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme (RoLAC) and other distinguished experts.
He said the purpose of the roundtable is to obtain the input of stakeholders, particularly with regard to foreseeable challenges in the implementation of the Draft Guidelines, for his consideration in finalizing the document.
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