The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami says the Nigerian Correctional Service is at the verge of establishing studios throughout the centres for recording inmates’ evidence. The AGF said this yesterday during his keynote address delivered during the Webinar/Virtual Interactive Session he held with Attorneys-General and Heads of Courts of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory Held in Abuja.
While making the announcement, Malami said: “This will make it possible for evidence of suspects in custody to be taken without their physical presence in court, and is meant to ensure that the administration of justice is not disrupted.
“Our judicial officers have been advised to be cautious in granting remand orders except in exceptional circumstances and subject to the guidelines to be put in place by the Ministry of Interior and the Nigerian Correctional Service.
“We have also developed an implementation strategy for the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019 through the installation of an ICT enabled National Criminal Database to promote effective information management in criminal justice administration, decongestion of Correctional Centres and non-custodial measures’’.
According to him, “These measures are for effective management of Correctional Centres for the reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders back to the society.
“We have also proposed decentralisation of Correctional Service Centres to allow for states to effectivly manage offenders who commit state offences while the Federal government will continue to manage offenders who commit federal offences.
“These measures, no doubt, will address the problem of congestion in the Correctional Centres as witnessed presently”.
The AGF also talked about the need for paradigm shift in the administration of justice through the usage of appropriate technologies to propel administration of justice.
He revealed that about 6,590 inmates have been released so far through the effort of the Presidential Committee on the decongestion of Correctional Centres and Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy Committee.
He added that the ministry is through with the establishment of ICT Studios and the acquisition of Galaxy Backbone dedicated lines that will catalyse the prosecution of criminal cases and the defence of civil cases via virtual platform.
