Ineffective, forgotten justice sector committees

ADE ADESOMOJU, in this piece, takes a look at some committees which have made little or no impact since they were inaugurated between 2016 and 2018 to drive some key policies of President Muhammadu Buhari administration in the justice sector

Many streets of Abuja, the Nigerian capital city, as well as many other parts of the country, were agog with fanfare  on March 28, 2015 when  Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was declared the winner of the keenly contested March 23, 2015 presidential election.

He defeated the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in the poll.

Fuelling, the joy expressed by many Nigerians across various social classes was their high hope that the Buhari presidency was going to deliver.

Buhari rode to power on the back of  promises to end impunity, fight corruption and send treasury looters to jail, rebuild the economy, fix infrastructure problems, defeat insurgency in the North-East and make Nigeria safe for citizens, provide uninterrupted power respect human rights, and boost the nation’s justice administration system.

Many of the elements of the “change” the then candidate Buhari  promised to offer Nigerians if elected  were rooted in the justice sector and it was not surprising that some high-profile committees were set up after he was sworn in for his first term on May 29, 2015 to help his administration drive key policies in that sector.

Buhari, a former military dictator, who flaunted the profile of a reformed democrat during the 2015 electioneering, has since won a second term in office.

But what has happened to some of the justice sector-related committees and others with involvement of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the Federal Ministry of Justice?

Monitoring and Evaluation Committee on the Implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy

War against corruption was one of the three broad focuses of the Buhari administration, with economy and security being the other two.

Setting up the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee on the Implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy in 2018 was therefore seen as a demonstration of government’s resolve to record a comprehensive victory over corruption in all its forms in the country.

The AGF, Malami, on September 3, 2018, inaugurated the 17-man committee to implement the National Anti-Corruption Strategy covering the period of 2017 to 2021.

According to Malami, the committee, which was set up to monitor and evaluate the anti-corruption strategy, was inaugurated over a year after the NAC strategy had been validated on April 27, 2017 by relevant stakeholders.

The committee comprised representatives of the heads of various Federal Government’s officials, ministries, departments and agencies as well as some civil society groups.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Malami explained that the National Anti-Corruption Strategy comprised five pillars  – prevention, public engagement, ethical reorientation, enforcement and sanction, and recovery and management of proceeds of crime.

Our correspondent gathered that the committee had been meetings and was, in fact, going to embark on a monitoring and evaluation tour of government’s ministries, department and agencies.

But one year after it was set up, it would be hard to ascribe any success to the committee in the midst of growing perception that the Buhari administration’s war against corruption is skewed against opposition figures and turns a blind eye on members of the ruling party, including former members of the opposition parties who became “clean” overnight after defecting to the President’s party.

Many corruption cases instituted by the administration since 2015 have been dismissed while others have been dragging on endlessly.

Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee

The Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee was one of the oldest committees set up to enhance the criminal justice administration in the country under the Buhari administration.

It was inaugurated by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa,  on behalf of the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, on March 1, 2016.

It was set up in line with section 469 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 to facilitate the implementation of the salient provisions of the then novel law, which came to revolutionise the criminal justice system.

Justice Bulkachuwa inaugurated the committee during the opening session of a training workshop for judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on the implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.

The committee headed by the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Justice Ishaq Bello, has as its members, the AGF, or his representative not below the rank of a Director in the Ministry and a judge of the Federal High Court.

After its inauguration over three years ago, nothing has been heard of the committee despite the huge roles of bridging the gaps between the provisions of the law and implementation.

For instance, the provisions of the ACJA prescribing day-to-day hearing of criminal cases, witness protection, monitoring of detention centres by designated magistrates, and a whole lot of others deserving of the committee’s attention, remain a pipe dream.

 Ken Nnamani-led Committee on Constitution and Electoral Reform

On October 5, 2016, Malami inaugurated the 23-man Committee on Constitution and Electoral Reform led by a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, at his office in Abuja on Tuesday.

At the inauguration of the committee, Malami charged its members to consult far and wide particularly with the judiciary and the National Assembly and come up with a draft executive bill for the implementation of its recommendations.

He said the setting up of the committee was in fulfillment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015, to be committed to the  deepening of the country’s democracy and entrenching the culture of an enduring electoral system.

The committee submitted its report on May 2, 2017, raising hopes for the 2019 general elections conducted based on an improved legal framework.

This never happened.

Other bills containing new electoral innovations and submitted by the National Assembly to Buhari for presidential assent ahead of the 2019 elections were also rejected for one reason or the other.

A key member of the committee, who sought not to be named, however told our correspondent he heard that the committee’s bill was being worked on for transmission to the National Assembly as an executive bill, but could not confirm how true.

The report submitted to Malami recommended among others, the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission by proposing the establishment of new agencies that would handle some of the commission’s tasks.

It also made provisions for the participation of independent candidates, Diaspora voting and use of technology for elections.

Unlike some previous reports on electoral reform, the Nnamani committee did not propose the establishment of the electoral offences tribunal, but rather recommended expansion of courts by building more courtrooms and appointing more judges under the existing court system.

Two new agencies proposed by the Nnamani committee to take up some of INEC’s mandates are the Political Parties and Electoral Offences Commission and the Constituency Delineation Centre.

While the PPEOC would be concerned with the registration and regulation of political parties as well as prosecution of electoral offenders in the regular courts, the CDC would carry out delineation of constituencies.

Presidential Inter-Agency Committee on recovery of AMCON loans

On May 30, 2016, Malami as the AGF emerged as the head of a Presidential Inter-Agency Committee on recovery of loans granted to commercial banks and corporate organisations by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.

Beyond the statement by Malami’s spokesperson announcing the inauguration of the committee, nothing has been heard of it ever since.

AMCON itself was created to recover debts, but the Malami-led committee was given, among others, the task of ascertaining “the current status of AMCON recoveries in terms of achievement from inception to date as well as the total outstanding value of assets”.

It was also expected “to ascertain how government at various levels can be made to honour their debt obligations to the corporation; how government agencies can collaborate to support AMCON’s recovery efforts.”

In July this year, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo inaugurated a task force to recover the outstanding N5tn debts owed by AMCON.

 Investigation Unit on sensitive cases

On August 29, 2017, Malami set up  Investigation Unit in the Federal Ministry of Justice to investigate “sensitive and important cases.”

The unit, according to the minister, was “to coordinate and form part of every investigation in Nigeria.”

He explained that the move became necessary because of lack of “legal expertise in the conduct and process of investigations by the various security agencies in Nigeria.”

He said the unit would address such anomalies leading to “consistent rejection of vital/relevant evidence in the course of prosecution.”

The AGF added that the investigation unit would also ensure “robust investigation and prosecution” of the cases being handled by the security agencies.

There is no evidence that the committee ever took off.

National Prosecution Coordination Committee

The National Prosecution Coordination Committee  was supposed to be a key body in the Buhari administration given the priority status it ascribed to anti-corruption.

The 20-man committee inaugurated by Osinbajo with the approval of President Buhari was headed by Malami.

The committee had the mandate of ensuring “the efficient, effective and result-oriented prosecution of high-profile criminal cases in the country.”

It was also to guarantee “prompt contact and synergy between investigators and the prosecutors of high-profile criminal cases”.

The committee was also to manage the information getting to the public on such cases as well as ensure strict compliance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

Sadly, the committee has no achievement to show, three years down the line.

The committee looked on as the rivalry between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Department of State Services reached a peak during Buhari’s first term in office.

The EFCC, and the office of the Federal Ministry of Justice, which Malami administers, continue to have irreconcilable differences on key anti-corruption issues while the NPCC, if it still exists, remains helpless.

Some of the corruption cases filed, under the supervision of the NPCC, against some judges whose houses were raided by the DSS in 2016 all ended as a failure.

Prosecution team

Related to the NPCC was a team of 80 lawyers pooled together by the committee to handle high-profile corruption cases.

The lawyers were put together in 20 groups with each comprising four lawyers headed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

At the end of the day only a few cases, such as the ones involving judges and the alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules in 2015, were assigned to some of the lawyers before it died naturally.

Culled from Punch