Abuse of Rights, Corruption, Poor Access to Justice and Prisons Congestion: The Banes of Nigerian Justice System — by Mohammed Isah Shehu
August 13
15:03
2023
Abuse of Rights, Corruption, Poor Access to Justice and Prisons Congestion: The Banes of Nigerian Justice System by Mohammed Isah Shehu
General Studies Department, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi- Nigeriazababa72@yahoo.com +2348061557546/+2348025770679&
Murtala Ahmed
JULY 15 – 16, 2014
ABSTRACT
The justice system of a state is the reflection of its extent of civilization, dispensation of justice and development and Nigeria‟s (the Police, Courts and Prison) system is bedeviled by several problems of decay of infrastructures, incompetent personnel, and prisons congestion, corruption, gross abuse of human rights and thus its near collapse. This study examinedthe Nigerian justice system in relation to the banes of corruption, human rights abuse and prisons congestion. The studyused secondary sources to obtain data. It was found that the operators of the Nigerian justice system are collectively andseparately responsible for most of the problems, so also the civil society while the government on the other hand has failedin its responsibility by neglecting the system through under-funding, negligence, excessive politics and allowing forincompetence. Recommendations such as complete overhaul of the prisons to reflect changing realities, curbing corruptionin the entire justice system, strengthening the constitutional provisions and procedural enforcement of fundamental rights,extensive and adequate civic education, strengthening the works of civil society organizations, speedy operations of thecourts, ensuring full independence of the judiciary and creation of conducive atmosphere for legal aid providers amongothers.
Introduction
The justice system of every state and society is a reflection of its extent of civilisation, ability to properdispensation of justice, stability and development. The Nigerian Justice System involving the Police which serve as the main law enforcement agent, the Courts which are an institution for adjudication,arbitration and punishing offenders and Prisons which are basically state centres established for punishment, correction and keeping in custody of those being accused or convicted of various offences.
The Nigeria Police Force established by Section (214) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria isthe most strategic public law enforcement agent but is today faced by several and complicated problems which have characteristically undermined all its institutional performance; The Courts alsoestablished by Section (6 [1-3], 230-294) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as the only stateinstitution with hierarchy, jurisdictions and constitutional powers to try and convict the citizens forvarious offences against the public and private individuals are also in turbulence because of problemsrelated to abuse of office, corruption and incompetence; and the Prisons which are established as punishment and correction centres with specified capacities of inmates to be accommodated at every particular time, large in number and found in virtually every major town or city, have become centresof infection with diseases, stacking of people, keeping enemies and perceived threats as well as asophisticated training ground for inmates and detainees to specialize in various criminal activities suchas armed robbery, drugs addiction, and other heinous crimes partly as a result of congestion which has become an issue of grave concern to both state and civil societies all over the country in view of theimpending consequences associated with it.
Background to Nigerian Legal System
The present Nigerian legal system originated from the British colonial legacies though it also hasSharia and Customary laws as components. However prior to the colonial contact, conquest andindependence, the various areas of what is now Nigeria had their peculiar traditional and or religiouslegal systems with Courts, Prisons and traditional Police. Thus, the popular Sharia/Islamic legal system(for both civil and criminal) of Sokoto Caliphate for example as maintained by Akinbiyi (2003:1-2 &2000:332) with an institutionalized and professional judicial system. In fact, there existed for example,a comprehensive justice system in northern Nigeria long before the arrival and conquest of colonial masters as submitted by (Ajayi, (1971:166). That also characterised the Igbo, Yoruba and other pre-colonial societies based on traditions, culture and religions and at various degrees of development.According to Akinbiyi (2001:69):
The English Law as a source of Nigerian Law consists of the Commonlaw, doctrines of equity, statutes and subsidiary legislation. Thehistory of reception dates back to 1863 when Ordinance No.3 of thatyear introduced English law into the colony of Lagos. Usually, wherea court is empowered to administer the received law provisions relating to its applications by the court are contained in the enactmentwhich created the court and subsidiary legislation made under theenactment. For instance, the various High Court enactments, the
magistrates‟ court laws of the Southern States and the Districts courtslegislation of the Northern States contain such provisions.
The present Nigerian legal and justice system are thus largely formed along the English common lawsmodel and are characterized by tremendous English laws upon its growth and development(Obilade:2001:4 & Akinbiyi, 2003:1). The system, in part, involves both civil and criminal procedures.Civil procedure is the entire process employed in civil actions to redress a civil wrong involving themethods, styles and practices used in civil actions with court rules and constitutional provisions(Akinbiyi, 2000:2). Criminal proceedings are meant and instituted to punish offenders as civil proceedings are instituted to enable individuals enforce their rights or receive compensation fromothers and criminal offences and proceedings are usually controlled by states while civil proceedingsare taken up by individuals depending on circumstances and peculiarities but sometimes with no cleardistinction between the two (Obilade, 2001: 5).
Akinbiyi (2003:203-
4) describes as „„the act of an official or judiciary person who unlawfully and
wrongfully uses his station to procure some benefit for himself or for another person contrary to dutyand the
rights of others‟‟ and where a judicial officer
uses his status or position in such a way as togain an advantage or secure a benefit for others, such a judicial officer is corrupt.Similarly, the processes of compensation, restitution and restoration to victims have been deliberatelyembedded by corruption in our courts. There is also congestion in virtually all the courts, thereby becoming a carryover to the prisons (congestion) which are attributed to adjournments and slowhearing of charges. According to Ajomo & Okagbue, (1991:195), the courts are also integral part ofthe problem as they are responsible for excessive and unnecessary adjournments of cases, inadequacyof personnel on one hand and unlawful arrests and stern conditions attached to bail processes. To givea vivid picture of this trend, Akinbiyi, (2003:205) has admitted that corruption has crept into the Nigerian judiciary and an urgent steps need to be taken as it is no longer discussed under closed doors.
Nigerian Prisons Congestion in Nigeria
According to Sanda, (2007:17-20), the objectives of sending one to prison are the reformation ofcharacter, punishment (with a particular penalty) of the offender and containment of the offender (to bring to an end his/her excesses) and imprisonment to deprive the individual of his/her certain rights allin order to ensure correction of the person. The British colonial masters began the establishment oftheir justice system by building their own model of prisons and courts around 1861 in Lagos which iswhat the present justice system is bearing with of course structural and functional changes. Withincrease in population, crime rate and development, however, the number of prisons keeps increasing.Prisons congestion now constitutes the prime problem to the efficiency of the Nigerian prisons as
virtually all the country‟s prisons are filled beyond capacity. The prisons are further devastated by
shortages of medical, health and sanitary facilities, loss of the essence of their establishment (ascorrection centre) and instead are now places for the breeding of hard and sophisticated criminals anddrugs addicts, and the centres for sale and consumption of hard drugs. According to Sanda (2007:9),
congestion of prison rears its ugly head right from the inadequacies of the police in adhering to theirstatutory duties. Many other scholars attribute prisons congestion to high increase in crime rate, whichin turn are caused by the decline in religious beliefs and practices among Nigerians; fragmentation infamilies with cases of divorces and abandoned children, children given birth to outside marriageleading to delinquency, drug abuse/addiction, prostitution; and excessive materialism which is
manifested in many Nigerians‟ desire to get rich without recourse to legal or moral means (Sanda
,2007:4-6). One other main reason for prison congestion is the failure of the courts to effectivelydischarge their functions, thereby leading detention of more suspects as the only alternative to keepthem under the law as applicable to the police who most often have congested cells and also resort tothe alternative of remand in prison custody. It is also worthy of note that the largest number of inmatesin Nigerian prisons are those awaiting trial or under prosecution, which signifies that only a small proportion of the inmates are those convicted and sentenced for one offence or the other and forvarious prison terms (Sanda, 2007:10).
The Police
The Nigeria Police is the only police force established by Section (214) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, which also spells out its major functions as contained in Section (4) of the Police Act as: prevention and detection of crime, apprehension of law offenders, preservation of public laws andorders, enforcement of laws, protection of lives and properties and performance of other militaryservices upon requirement. The police force is key in any justice system as the first assignment (arrestsand prosecution of suspects) and enforcement of laws lie with them. The police like the othercomponents of the justice system are bedeviled with multi-faceted problems of incompetence,corruption within and outside it, shortage of logistics and qualified personnel, poor remuneration,excessive politicization of the force and its services, commercialization of recruitment and promotionin the force and gross abuse of fundamental human rights.
Nigerian
Justice System and Legal Aid Services
Legal aid is the provision of free legal services and support to persons who cannot afford to have suchon their own due to poverty, illiteracy et cetera. According to Section (46 [4]) of the 1999 Constitutionof Nigeria, Nigerian citizens are to have such legal services free of any charge so that their rights could be fully respected and preserved irrespective of whatever status, they may have especially the poor anduneducated ones and de-emphasize materialism in dispensation of justice to the citizens. This as noted by Malemi (2010:415) started in Nigeria with private legal practitioners gesture until the officialestablishmen
t of the government‟s Legal Aid Council during
the Murtala/Obasanjo regime throughDecree No. 56, 1976. It was a milestone towards observance and enforcement of rights, but theservices rendered by the council are also waning over the time due to negligence, poor or no awareness
of the council‟s existence
and services, geometric increase in population and Nigerian systemdynamics.
Summary and Conclusion
There can be no peace, stability, progress and development without a sound justice system in anynation or state and ability to dispense justice squarely rests with the justice system. The Nigerian justice system has been marred and individual tactics used in violation of rights such as deliberate andcalculated dawdling trial, torture and extortion of suspects, deliberate complication of bailing processand or refusal to grant so, the incessant transfer of suspects in custody from one police station toanother and deliberate call for external interference is the main marring factors. Rights ofcomplainants, suspects and detainees are grossly violated despite numerous legal provisions againstsuch. Those awaiting trials are large in number and mostly fall victims of the inadequacies of the Nigerian justice system and remain in the worst conditions in comparison to those convicted andsentenced. Congestion in Nigerian prisons is attributed to the roles of all the components of the entire justice system (the Police, Courts and Prisons) – attitude to work, incompetence and shortage of personnel and poor access to and management of records as well as corruption. But all the respective
constitutions of Nigeria (1960, 63, 78, 89, 95 [draft] and 99) have made provisions and guaranteedobservance and enforcement of fundamental rights but there are turbulent problems in the observanceand enforcement procedures. Something tangible has to be done immediately to save the system fromtotal collapse and also save the image of Nigeria, restore hope in the common man and ensure a justand an orderly society. For every justice deferred, delayed or derailed by anyone through whatevermeans is justice denied and injustice in whatever form breeds instability.
Recommendations
The study has made the following recommendations in order for the Nigerian justice system to bedynamic, efficient and relevant to the Nigerian state and society:– There should be immediate and proper rehabilitation of all the country prisons and detention centresto ensure steady provision of basic infrastructures.– Components of the justice system should put hands together and ensure efficiency in the works ofthe system, especially in the related processes of arrests, detention, bail and prosecution.– Greater and extensive enlightenment should be carried out to specially sensitize citizens on theworks of Civil Liberties Organizations, Legal Aid Councils and Human Rights Commissionsso as to check the extent of human rights abuses at the police custody, prisons and courts.– There should be greater emphasis on payments and enforcement of fines and compensation to thosewhose rights are violated and laws offended to check the congestion in the prisons.– The general rehabilitation and reintegration policies and programmes of the government should beimproved and popularized more to ensure optimum utilization of such by the prisoners,convicts and ex-convicts.– The stigmatization against prisoners who have served their respective prison terms and othersentences should be stopped so that they could feel socially integrated and part of the widerand normal society.– Independence of the judiciary has to be practically observed and guaranteed and their decisionsstrictly adhered to especially by governments and the police.– Those that may be wrongly, carelessly or deliberately made victims of crime, detention or tortureshould be made to enjoy substantial compensation from either the state or those who inflictedsuch damages on them.– Courts should be henceforth be located within short proximity from the police stations and posts toensure easy and effective conveyance of the accused.
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