By Lawal A. Dogara, Kaduna
Justice Ibrahim Tanko-Muhammad of the Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed concern over rampant cases of child-abuse in Nigeria.
He made this known while declaring open the 18th Annual Judges Conference held at Kongo Campus of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State.
The theme of the conference is: “The Role of Sharia/Area Courts in the Administration of Justice in Cases involving Children”.
Tanko-Muhammad, who was represented by Justice Ahmad Balgore, Justice of the Court of Appeal, said the theme of the conference was not only topical but timely and suitable for deliberation.
“The theme is not only topical but timely and suitable for deliberation taking into cognisance the rampant cases of child abuse in Nigeria.”
He identified cases of child-abuse as a common phenomenon that cuts across societies in Nigeria and called for reversal of the trend.
Tanko-Muhammad called on CILS and NJI to further strengthen their collaborative efforts in pursuing the desired goal for guiding and assisting the Nigerian judiciary in the areas of administration of justice.
“I have no doubt in expressing my confidence in the ability of the two institutions (CILS and NJI) to rise up to the occasion in making sure that this broken confederation, would be fully supported and sustained.
“I also call on relevant authorities to give their optimum support to CILS in its efforts to providing continuing legal education to judges, judicial staff, legal practitioners, etc.
“The continuing education should be in the relevant fields of law generally and Islamic law in particular for effective justice delivery in Nigeria,” he said.
In his speech, the ABU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ibrahim Garba described the conference as one of its kind in Nigerian legal issues.
The V-C, who was represented by Prof. Ibrahim Ahmad-Aliyu, Direcor, Institute of Administration, Kongo, said the conference seeks to tackle issues like succession, evidence and sharing of assets among others.
He observed that in cases involving children, the procedure changes due to incapabilities of the children as minors.
Earlier, the Director, CILS, Prof. Bala Babaji said the conference was the only annual colloquium on Islamic law in Nigeria where judges, lawyers and academics meet and update their knowledge and skills on Islamic law as practiced in Nigeria.
Babaji enumerated some benefits of the conference included; treating topical issues with relevance mostly to Sharia-Area Courts.
He said it serves as a continuing legal education scheme where the knowledge and skills of Alkali and others were upgraded and serves as a hub where Sharia specialists and other scholars meet, interact and exchange ideas.
Similarly, in a welcome address, the NJI Administrator, Mr R.P.I. Bonzimo said NJI was the only statutory body responsible for training and retraining of judicial officers and their support staff in Nigeria.
