An expanded stakeholder’s conference on Speeding-Up Criminal Justice in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja opened on Monday 25th February, 2013 at the Ceremonial Court, FCT High Court, Maitama Abuja.

Present at the event was a total number of 201 persons from various Criminal Justice Institutions in the FCT among who were: Chief Judge, FCT High Court; Honorable Justice L.H. Gummi, Director- General Legal Aid Council of Nigeria Mrs. Joy Bob–Manuel, Executive Secretary National Agency for Prohibition on Trade in Persons NAPTIP represented by Mr. Shuaibu Opotu, Chairman Economic and Financial Crime Commission EFCC represented by Mr. Chile Okoroma, Controller General of Prisons represented by Alhaji Sarki , Assistant Controller Genera; Prisons, Controller of Prisons FCT Command; Alhaji K.O. Yusuf, Programme Manager Justice for All Mr. Bob Arnot, Executive Director PRAWA Dr. Uju Agomoh, Vice Chairman Nigerian Bar Association NBA Unity Bar; Mrs. Izuora and Commissioner of Police, FCT Command.

The objective of the meeting was to present the findings of the consultation work, plans and outputs from the Joint Solutions Workshop for the implementation of desired reforms to be implemented to speed up the delivery of criminal justice in the FCT, while the output include a set of formally adopted project concept notes were presented to a cross section of Stakeholders from various Criminal Justice Institutions as well as agreed mechanisms for management and monitoring of implementation activities.

Declaring open the conference Justice Gummi called for co-ordination among all criminal justice institutions. He noted that it is disheartening to note that most accused persons have no legal representation, the prisons are overcrowded and most times courts have to resort to adjourning cases because prison authorities fail to bring remand prisoners to court on time. He however said that so much can be achieved if the various Criminal Justice Institutions work as a team. He expressed his happiness about the project saying it is aimed at achieving sustainable reform towards speedy criminal justice delivery in the FCT adding that with the efforts of all institutions present there is hope for a criminal justice system that is affordable, independent, transparent, with zero level to corruption as well as one that meets the need of the constitution.

The Controller General Of Prisons Zakari Ibrahim represented by Alhaji Sarki, ACG; Prisons extolled DFID, Justice for All and PRAWA for this initiative aimed at ensuring speedy justice service delivery in the FCT and pledged the support of Nigerian Prisons Service NPS will to the project.

Dr. Bob Arnot, National Programme Manager, Justice for All said Justice for All is supporting this initiative because justice is needed in Nigeria. He said the project is funded by the UK Government in partnership with DFID piloted in Enugu and that FCT Abuja was approved as the next pilot state. “The impact of the project as observed by the Enugu pilot has shown considerable reduction in the length of time inmates spend in the prisons. One of the key lessons learnt in this project is that there must be cross sector reforms that cut across all institutions to ensure results are achieved” he said.

Giving the overview of the Project, Dr. Uju Agomoh Executive Director PRAWA said the project focuses on the issues around co-ordination. “if there is proper co-ordination amongst Criminal Justice Institutions. There must be intra-agency and inter-agency co-ordination to ensure that proper communication exists amongst agencies as well people within the systems” she said. . According to her, the diagnostic phase for the project commenced in the FCT in November 2012, and involves the following activities like: intra-agency workshops to discover the processes of the various organizations and the blockages as well as proffer solutions these blockages, focus group discussions meant to get the opinions of prisoners, awaiting trial inmates, prisoners’ families, witnesses, defense Lawyers, CSOs to discover what they perceive as justice, joint solutions workshop to identify priority interventions and the wider stakeholders conference to showcase these priority interventions that have been chosen.

Other keynote speakers at the event include: Director Public Prosecution, Federal Ministry of Justice, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trade in Person NAPTIP, Economic And Financial Crime Commission, FCT Judiciary, Nigerian Prison Service, Legal Aid Council, Nigerian Bar Association and Nigerian Police Force.

Highlight of the event was questions and observations session where participants shared experiences on some issues effecting effective cross sectoral collaboration toward speeding-up justice system in Nigeria.