The Associate Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Democracy Dr. Osita Nnamani-Ogbu has described the criminal procedures and laws about witness protection in Nigeria as that which is out of date, moribund and requires urgent review. Dr. Ogbu made this declaration while speaking on a topic: “Existing Legal Procedures on Witness Support and Protection” during the opening ceremony of a Consultative Forum on Enhancing Witness Attendance to Court in Enugu State held recently in Enugu.

He said that the witness protection and welfare concerns of the criminal laws and procedures have not been reviewed or amended ever since the colonial master left the shores of Nigeria. “The amount stipulated by law for witness welfare in the magistrate court is very minimal and ridiculous” he said. “What can twenty naira do for witness who has left his day’s business, paid transport to be in court and incurred other costs and inconveniences? That notwithstanding, even to access the twenty naira takes time” he added.

Continuing, he said that even in the High Court, where One Thousand Naira was stipulated as witness welfare for certain class of witnesses not below level 8 in the civil service is still very low not to mention the meager Five Hundred stipulated for mid level witnesses and Two Hundred Naira for other classes of witnesses. According to Dr. Ogbu, inasmuch there are provisions in the law for refund of expenses incurred by witnesses during their court trials beyond monies spent on transportation, bureaucracy and red tape within the system are other factors to be contended with by the witnesses.

Dr. Ogbu posited that witness protection must be given great consideration by the authorities, if the dream of expeditious delivery of criminal justice in Enugu State must be a reality. He called on the governments of various states in Nigeria to design and implement their own witness protection laws and sited Lagos and Anambra States as states that have taken serious steps to develop separate procedures in their laws for witness protection.

“The witnesses do not know their rights, what to pay for in courts and what not to pay for. For example people pay for witnesses to come to court and even for investigations. Prisoners pay to be taking to courts. To whom do these payments go, we do not know. Our people need to be educated properly on witnesses rights and obligations urgently” he concluded.