By Chimezie Godfrey
As part of its efforts in promoting accountability and transparency in the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria, Cleen Foundation has launched the Lagos State resource centre for hosting corruption Judgements.
The Executive Director, Cleen Foundation, Benson Olugbuo, disclosed that the goal of the project is to reduce corruption, promote judicial transparency in processing anti-corruption case in the country.
“I would begin by first expressing my sincere appreciation on behalf of CLEEN Foundation and to welcome you all to this distinguished occasion to officially launch the Lagos State Resource centre for hosting soft and hard copies of corruption judgments.
“This initiative is part of our ongoing project on Promoting Accountability and Transparency in the Administration of Criminal Justice System in Nigeria with the support of the MacArthur Foundation.
“The Goal of the project is hinged on reducing corruption, promoting judicial transparency in processing anti-corruption cases; and enhancing accountability in the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
“This is with a view to make information (recent case laws- hard copies of court ruling/judgements with application of ACJA), on corruption and accountability easily accessible (online and offline) to legal practitioners, law enforcement agencies, Judges, Prosecutors, Defendants, government agencies responsible for the administration of criminal justice, civil society organizations working for justice sector reforms, legal scholars and researchers.”
Olugbuo added that the project principally seeks to monitor cases of corruption in relation to the ACJA 2015 through a web-based platform- Uwazi which is functional, accessible and within the reach of the public.
“CLEEN Foundation practically is achieving this via this url = https://cleen.uwazi.io
“It is against this background that the Nigerian Barr Association (NBA) have been selected to serve as a partner to host the resource centre in Lagos State.
“It is for this reason that we are gathered here today to witness the launch of the centre which will serve as repository of hard copies of court rulings on corruption related cases and or financial crimes cases related to the administration of criminal justice for easy access and usage of legal practitioners and our state partners.
“For more impact-based monitoring and reporting of the administration of criminal justice system across our focal states, the state working group meeting has now been realigned to hold on a Bi-monthly basis.
“It is expected that our partners hosting the Centre will give updates on the resource centre and its successes at the meetings.
“Post-launch, we welcome you all to engage with the centre in advancing your work in the justice system.
“We must at this point appreciate the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch for taking the lead as the among our project working group members to host the resource centre,” he said.
He appreciated his colleagues and partners for their concerted efforts at the concept stage to the very point in implementation.
“We thank our partners for the impressive blend of experts in the field of justice and law enforcement invited for this meeting.
“Undeniably, we all share a common interest for effective justice delivery and do possess an important stake in the implementation of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act, 2015/ACJL as applicable to the states,” he said.
He also thanked the MacArthur Foundation for their support for the project.
