Stakeholders drawn from across Nigeria’s justice sector have renewed calls on the National Assembly to pass the Administration of Criminal Justice Act Amendment Bill, which has remained pending at the legislature for three years, arguing that the delay was undermining efforts to build a more effective, rights-respecting, and efficient criminal justice system.
The appeal was made at a Train the Trainers programme on the National Minimum Standards for effective implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, organised by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies in partnership with the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption programme in Abuja.
The event brought together magistrates, lawyers in public and private practice, officials from the Federal Ministry of Justice and state-level justice ministries, and representatives of civil society organisations.
CSLS President Professor Yemi Akinseye-George described the amended bill as essential to addressing the gaps identified in the original 2015 legislation over the past eleven years of its operation. He stressed that the Administration of Criminal Justice framework represented one of the most significant reforms in the country’s justice architecture, designed to promote efficiency, protect the rights of all persons involved in criminal proceedings, and ensure that justice was delivered both promptly and fairly.
“The true impact of these reforms depends not just on the law itself, but on how well it is understood, applied, and sustained in practice,” he said, urging lawmakers to treat the passage of the amendment as a matter of urgency.
He described participants at the training as occupying a pivotal position in the reform journey, characterising them as the bridge between policy and practice given that the knowledge and skills they acquired would be transmitted to colleagues and institutions across their respective jurisdictions.
