A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Network of University Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI), says it has helped in resolving about 1,400 pretrial detention cases in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Keffi, Nasarawa State in five years.
President of NULAI, Prof Ernest Ojukwu (SAN), said this at an event organised in Abuja.
The event was organised by NULAI with the support of United States Department of State International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and Partners Global.
The project was on “Reforming Pretrial Detention in Nigeria (RPDN): Project Retrospective Outlook Close -out Session.”
Ojukwu who was represented by the executive director, Abuja Law Clinic, Dr Nasiru Muhktar, said the project started in 2018 and had been impactful.
“There is no iota of doubt this is the most impactful project NULAI had ever been involved in. This is certain because the reports are showing some amazing statistics of impacts that have been made on different fronts.
“Over 1,400 cases have been resolved; over 500 students have been able to support pro-bono lawyers to intervene in cases and these cases have been resolved.
“Over 15, 000 pretrial detention cases are being updated, the records are updated in the correctional centres, that is to show you that the use of technology has helped to solve a lot of systemic problems that are affecting the criminal justice system,” he said.
Ojukwu said there had been a lot of problems of pretrial detention in the country which had resulted in overcrowding in the correctional centres.
He added; “The figure in Nigeria is 75 percent and it has been consistent. What I mean by 75 per cent is that of every 100 people in the correctional center, 75 percent of them are pretrial detainees.
“This means that their cases have not been decided. They have not been convicted. Only 25 per cent have been convicted. We have been able to significantly reduce all the problems that make cases to be adjourned.”
He said with the effort by the CSO, the period of adjournment had been reduced from 31 to 14 days.
David Greene, Charge’ d’ Affaires, U.S. Embassy, Nigeria, said Nigeria was not alone in facing the challenge of pretrial detention.
“It is universal. The fundamental principle of any democratic society like Nigeria is not just the rule of law, but there must be a functioning justice system,” he said.
He said the project was implemented in the FCT and Keffi, adding that the U.S. would replicate this role to include additional states in the North Central region.
NULAI’s programme manager, Mahmud Yusuf, said the organisation had been working with the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) to achieve its goal.
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