By Chimezie Godfrey
Cleen Foundation has commenced the training of officers and men of the Nigerian Police on the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
According to the statement signed by the Executive Director, Cleen Foundation, Benson Olugbuo, the two day training, which began today in Abuja, is coming at a crucial time, in view of the escalating crime incidences, cases of human rights violations, among other things.
“CLEEN Foundation was established in January 1998 with the mission to promote public safety, security and accessible justice through the strategies of empirical research, legislative advocacy, demonstration programmes and publications, in partnership with government, civil society and the private sector.
“In our twenty-one (21) years of existence, the Nigeria Police has remained one of our closest partners in working to improve public safety and security in Nigeria.
“The Police as gatekeepers to the criminal justice system require continued training and retraining to effectively deliver on their constitutional mandate to maintain law and order and protect lives and property in a professional manner and within the confines of the laws.
“This training workshop being organized by CLEEN Foundation is coming at a crucial time in our country in view of the escalating crime incidences, the multiplicity of reports on human rights violations, complaints about non-compliance to the laws by law enforcement agents, and the need for expeditious hearing of criminal cases in the country.
“The ACJA 2015 as we know has brought fundamental reforms to our criminal justice system,” he said.
Olugbuo pointed out that the Act was designed to preserve and strengthen existing legal frameworks as well as enhance the efficiency of the institutions within the criminal justice system and the protection of human rights of citizens, suspects, defendants and victims.
He stated that the legislative purpose of the ACJA, 2015 is to have a nation-wide application, and to introduce a national criminal procedure law that will regulate the investigation and prosecution of offences throughout the federation.
He further revealed that the Act, being an Act of the National Assembly is only applicable to the Federal Capital Territory and to Federal courts and other federal institutions including the Nigeria Police.
He, however disclosed that many states are beginning to adopt the Act.
“Presently, 29 states have already adopted the Act, including Lagos, Anambra and Ekiti States which enacted the Law before 2015.
“Other states that have adopted the Act include Enugu, Rivers, Delta, Kaduna, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Ondo, Oyo, Kogi, Ogun, Plateau, Bayelsa, Edo, Benue, Adamawa, Jigawa, Nassarawa, Bauchi, Kano, Yobe, Kwara, Osun, Sokoto, Ebonyi and Katsina states.
“It is expedient to ensure adequate awareness on the provisions of the law and their applicability in criminal proceedings.
“It is against this background and in furtherance of our commitment to support the efforts of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to improve police professionalism and service delivery, that the Foundation is organizing series of training programs for police officers across the country, which began with a Training of Trainers’ (ToT) workshop that took place at the end of September, 2019.
“To improve the knowledge, technical capacity and skills of law enforcement and security personnel to effectively understand and play their role in the implementation of ACJA 2015,” he said.
The Executive Director also said that the rationale for organizing training of trainers’ (ToT) workshop was to support the Nigeria Police in building technical capacity to step down the training through its ranks.
According to him, the training is part of the follow-up stepdown trainings to be conducted by the trainees across the 12 police zonal commands, to cascade the knowledge gained to other police officers all over the country and would be based on the manual produced and used for the ToT training workshop.
