Poor funding slows criminal justice act – Stakeholders

Poor funding by government and donor agencies is hindering efficient implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, numerous stakeholders said.

Speaking at a Stakeholders Summit on the ACJA organised by the CLEEN Foundation yesterday in Abuja, it was revealed that the Monitoring Committee of the Act had received ‘zero’ budgetary allocation since its inception in 2015.

Secretary to the committee, Okoi Obono-Obla said none of the key mandates of the committee has been implemented due to lack of funds.

Also speaking on the poor funding, the Commissioner of Police in charge of legal department, David Igbodo said the police required funds to implement provisions of the ACJA with regards to logistics and data capturing.

“We need less talk and more action on this act. The police is required to capture data of all persons arrested, this is a fantastic provision but how do we implement it, the police presently has no means of identifying persons arrested,” he said.

In his presentation, Professor Akinseye George said the act is already making positive impact in the judicial system saying several states are in the process of adopting the act, with modifications to take care of their peculiarities.