Legal committee to examine criminal justice of Northern Nigeria inaugurated

 

Northern States Governors’ Forum has constituted a committee of legal experts to critically examine the Criminal Justice System of Northern Nigeria vis-à-vis the emerging criminal offences prevalent in the Northern States.

The committee is to determine how best to incorporate them into the Penal Code.

The establishment of the Committee, according to the chairman of the Forum and governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, was the direct outcome of the last meeting of the Northern States Governors’ Forum held in Kaduna.

He stated that most of the criminal offences currently being perpetrated, especially kidnapping, cattle rustling and inciting religious preaching, have either not been adequately covered by the Penal Code or not at all.

Speaking on the occasion of inauguration of the committee of Attorneys-General and commissioners of justice of Northern States on the review of the criminal justice system of Northern Nigeria yesterday in Kaduna, he said, “Therefore it has become a matter of strategic imperative to review the existing Criminal Justice System in its entirety in order to ensure that it is up to date and consistent with our current situation.”

He noted that the Boko Haram insurgency, which has been raging on for the past six years was one of the many serious security challenges the region was experiencing.

“It has been generally agreed that one of the root causes of the insurgency was unlicensed and inciting preaching by the sect, which inevitably stoked the violence and culminated in the extremely complicated and
unconventional security situation facing this part of the country and in particular the North-East,” he observed

He added, “The Committee should also look at the condemnable activities of the so called sponsors of the insurgency and come up with legally pragmatic, appropriate and proportionate punishment.

“The Committee should also focus specifically on parents, who because of some pittance sacrifice their children as suicide bombers. Such parents must be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“Similarly, the issue of cattle rustling has been gradually assuming a disturbingly unacceptable dimension which quite often degenerates into the vicious circle of unwarranted mass killings and deadly reprisal attacks. These are just few examples of the multifarious security challenges we are confronted with and in order to overcome them with appreciable degree of success we need to adopt an effective legislative framework; hence the need for the review of the Criminal Justice System of the Northern States.”

“To guide the committee in its assignment, they should strictly do a thorough and meticulous review of the Penal Code as it exists with a view to pointing out its weaknesses and constraints in the overall administration of Criminal Justice System in the Northern States.

“They are to also do a careful analysis of the various emergent security challenges confronting the Northern States and determine how best to incorporate them into the Penal Code for proper and effective administration of
justice. To make any other recommendations the Committee deems necessary in the course of its assignment,” he stressed.