The Federal Government has unveiled two landmark documents aimed at deepening justice sector reforms in Nigeria the National Minimum Standards for the Implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, and a Harmonised Restorative Justice Training Curriculum and Manual in a move that introduces a unified framework for criminal justice institutions across the country and formally integrates restorative justice as a complementary approach to Nigeria’s justice system.
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The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, described the initiative at the unveiling ceremony and sensitisation workshop in Abuja on Tuesday as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s efforts to build a justice system that is efficient, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of victims, offenders, and society.
Fagbemi acknowledged that while the ACJA 2015 has introduced key reforms over the past decade — including plea bargaining, prohibition of arrest by proxy, improved asset recovery mechanisms, and enhanced conviction rates — significant challenges persist in its implementation.
“Over the past decade, Nigeria has undertaken several reforms aimed at improving the efficiency, fairness, and accountability of our criminal justice system. One of the key pillars of these reforms has been the implementation of the provisions of the ACJA 2015, which introduced innovative mechanisms to ensure speedy justice delivery and the decongestion of correctional centres,” Fagbemi stated.
However, he noted that delays in case management, congestion in courts, and overcrowded correctional centres continue to plague the system problems that the new National Minimum Standards are designed to address by providing clear operational benchmarks for all justice sector institutions.
The National Minimum Standards provide a unified framework and benchmark for justice sector institutions and stakeholders to ensure consistency, accountability, and improved performance across the country.
The standards were developed through extensive collaboration among federal and state institutions, as well as professional bodies, and are designed to ensure that the ACJA is implemented uniformly across all jurisdictions addressing a longstanding problem where implementation varies significantly from one court, state, or institution to another.
By establishing clear benchmarks for institutional performance, the standards create a basis for measuring compliance, identifying gaps, and holding institutions accountable for their role in the criminal justice process from investigation and prosecution to adjudication, sentencing, and correctional services.
Perhaps the most significant policy shift signalled by the unveiling is the formal integration of restorative justice into Nigeria’s criminal justice framework.
Fagbemi described restorative justice as a complementary approach that shifts focus from punishment to repairing harm, promoting accountability, and rebuilding relationships between victims, offenders, and communities.
The Harmonised Restorative Justice Training Curriculum and Manual is designed to ensure consistency, professionalism, and effective delivery of restorative justice processes across jurisdictions. It provides a standardised training framework for practitioners who will implement restorative justice programmes — ensuring that the approach is applied with the same rigour and professionalism as conventional criminal justice processes.
The restorative justice approach represents a departure from the purely punitive model that has traditionally dominated Nigeria’s criminal justice system. Rather than focusing exclusively on punishing offenders, restorative justice brings together victims, offenders, and community members to address the harm caused by crime, seek accountability, and find pathways to reconciliation and rehabilitation.
The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, in a message delivered by Justice James Omotosho, described the ACJA as “revolutionary in outlook” and praised its contribution to promoting efficiency and fairness in the prosecution of criminal cases.
Tsoho said the establishment of national minimum standards would ensure uniformity in implementation across jurisdictions, strengthen institutional accountability, and boost public confidence in the criminal justice system.
He also praised the restorative justice manual as a progressive step towards a more inclusive justice system that prioritises victim compensation, reconciliation, and rehabilitation areas that have historically been neglected in Nigeria’s criminal justice process, which has traditionally focused on the state’s interest in punishment rather than the victim’s interest in restitution and healing.
The Director of the Administration of Criminal Justice Reform and Development Department at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Leticia Ayoola-Daniels, said the unveiling marked the culmination of years of collaborative efforts to institutionalise restorative justice in Nigeria.
She disclosed that the ministry had made significant progress since 2022, including extensive stakeholder engagements and study visits to Lagos State — which has been a pioneer in implementing aspects of restorative justice at the state level — leading to the development of key policy documents including a restorative justice policy, bill, practice direction, and training manual.
Ayoola-Daniels explained that the National Minimum Standards establish operational benchmarks for implementing restorative justice in line with global best practices, creating a framework that draws on international experience while being tailored to Nigerian realities.
Professor Yemi Akinseye-George SAN, President of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, made a detailed presentation on the essence of the National Minimum Standards and why judges must adopt them.
The professor’s involvement reflects the academic rigour that went into developing the standards, ensuring they are grounded in legal scholarship and comparative analysis as well as practical experience.
The AGF commended the contributions of multiple stakeholders, including the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and Professor Akinseye-George, for their roles in developing the documents.
The unveiling of these documents has several practical implications for Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
For judges, the National Minimum Standards provide clear benchmarks for case management, sentencing, and the application of ACJA provisions — potentially reducing the inconsistencies that have characterised the implementation of the Act across different courts and jurisdictions.
For prosecutors, the standards establish expectations for case preparation, plea bargaining processes, and the handling of matters in accordance with the ACJA’s provisions — including the prohibition of arrest by proxy, which remains widely violated despite being outlawed by the Act.
For correctional services, the standards address the persistent problem of overcrowded facilities by reinforcing the ACJA’s emphasis on non-custodial sentencing options and the use of restorative justice as an alternative to imprisonment for appropriate categories of offences.
For victims, the restorative justice framework represents a significant advancement, offering pathways to compensation, restitution, and participation in the justice process that have historically been absent from Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
For offenders, the restorative justice approach offers the possibility of accountability through engagement with victims and communities rather than purely through incarceration — potentially facilitating rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.
The unveiling comes at a time when Nigeria’s criminal justice system faces significant scrutiny. The recent mass terrorism trials — which saw 386 convictions in four days — have raised questions about the speed and thoroughness of judicial processes. The NBA has condemned judges for detaining lawyers through summary contempt proceedings. And the country’s correctional facilities remain severely overcrowded, with a significant proportion of inmates being awaiting-trial detainees who have not been convicted of any offence.
The National Minimum Standards and the restorative justice manual represent the government’s attempt to address these systemic challenges through institutional reform rather than piecemeal interventions establishing the framework for a criminal justice system that is more efficient, more humane, and more responsive to the needs of all stakeholders.
Whether these documents translate from policy frameworks into operational reality will depend on the commitment of institutions across the justice sector to adopt and implement them a challenge that has historically proven more difficult than the development of the standards themselves.
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