TRACKING PROGRESS ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM IN NIGERIA –THE IMPERATIVE FOR AN ANNUAL REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION EFFORTS

Abstract

Nigeria adopted the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in 2015. It came with a lot of promise, including the establishment of a monitoring committee designed to enhance coordination between criminal justice institutions and the cap on the duration of pretrial detention – a maximum of 42 days divided into three separate bands of 14 days with the necessary magisterial supervision. Eight years after the adoption of ACJA, it is fair to ask, how many of these promises have translated into tangible outcomes for ordinary people? Anecdotally, the verdict is quite a few. However, the real question is: what is the mechanism for tracking progress on implementation? Do we have any more than different groups tracking different aspects of the implementation process? Could we design a centrally accessible framework for monitoring implementation? This article responds to these questions and makes the case for an annual review of implementation efforts.

Keywords: Administration, Committee, Criminal, Implementation, Tracking.

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UNILAG Law Review, (2023) Volume 6 Edition 1.