Ebenezer Adurokiya | Warri
Delta State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Isaiah Bozimo, says the Ministry of Justice has mapped out a comprehensive implementation strategy to sustain the gains recorded so far in justice delivery, especially in the administration of Criminal Justice Law.
Bozimo stated this in Asaba while briefing the press on the outcome of the National Technical Review Conference on administration of Criminal Justice Law, held in Abuja where Delta State won an award as the best out of 34 participating states in the implementation of administration of Criminal Justice Law.
He said that the recognition was a testament of the commitment of the Ministry of Justice and the state government in particular to ensuring that the custodial centres were decongested.
Bozimo further said that the journey began in November 2021 when the Ministry of Justice realised that there was need to commence the process of critical reforms in the administration of Criminal Justice, which he observed was not working as expected.
Bozimo, who recalled that in a bid to achieve more success, the ministry requested for a memoranda and feedback from each of the stakeholders in Criminal Justice, stated that the Ministry presented a draft bill on the reform on May 12, 2022 after passing through public scrutiny.
Speaking further, Bozimo noted that the implementation of the administration of Criminal Justice Law would help in the reduction of awaiting trial cases, adding that there would also be a shift from the primitive based criminal justice law to reformative based criminal justice.
On the trial of defenders, he said that in the event there was a security concern that was unsafe for the defenders to appear in court, the case would not proceed, just as he added that there were instances where defenders were connected virtually to court for their trials.
Earlier, the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Omamuzo Erebe commended the Attorney-General for his numerous reforms in the ministry, stressing that the Director of Administration of Criminal Justice in the Ministry, Mr. Patrick Ossisioma, who represented the ministry at the National Technical Review Conference (NTRC) had come to inform the commissioner what transpired at the conference.
Presenting the award to the commissioner in the presence of other directors , the representative of the ministry at the conference, Mr. Patrick Ossisioma said that the conference was held between February 16 and February 17.
He stated that the actual reason for the conference was to assess the level of implementation of the administration of criminal justice in each of the states with reference to timeline of implementation, prison congestion and case monitoring, among others.
He noted that the panel deemed it necessary to consider Delta State the number one state in the implementation and prizes, including laptop, Certificate of Participation with the inscription describing Delta as the best, WiFi and external printer/photocopier, were presented to the state.
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