• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
Sign in
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Password recovery
Recover your password
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • PHOTOS: ICPC Operatives Attacked as Young Vote Buyers Nabbed

      Efcc operatives attacked by political thugs

      Vote Buying: Political Thugs Attack EFCC Operatives

      EFCC Arraigns Professor, Indian over N1.4bn Fraud, $200,000 Thefts

      Chairman EFCC Abdulrasheed Bawa

      EFCC Under Bawa Nightmare of Corrupt Public Officers, Fraudsters – CSOs

      EFCC

      Top EFCC Staff Fingered in Age Falsification Scandal as ‘Lobbyists’ Pressure…

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • Minister Unveils Nigerian Navy’s Navigational Charts for Inland Waterways Development

      Passport: NIMC Urged to Justify N1,000 Fee for NIN Verification

      DG NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed

      Incessant Fire Outbreaks: NEMA Boss Laments, Calls for Nationwide Awareness

      Finally, CBN, Commercial Banks Declare Old Naira Notes Legal

      Tinubu Elumelu in Video

      That Tinubu-Elumelu Video and the PR Stunt!

  • National
    • Map of Nigeria

      2023 Governorship Election: Live Updates from INEC IReV Results in 28…

      CISLAC boss, Musa Rafsanjani

      TMG to INEC: Redeem your image by conducting credible March 18…

      NASS Speakership: GGTI Roots for Sada Soli

      How Gov’t Can Address High Inflation Rate – ACCI

      2023: Amid Outrage, Maikyau Defends NBA’s Position on Presidential Election

    • Government
      • 2023 Polls: BPSR, UNILAG sign MoU to Train Elected Governors

        Youth Minister Inaugurates Committee on NYSC @50 Anniversary Celebration

        NYSC Threatens Legal Action Against Persons ‘Abusing’ Corpers’ Uniform

        In Three Months, Fire Destroys Property Worth N23.3bn

        NOA Urges Nigerians to Shun Violence Ahead of Guber, Assembly Polls

  • Security
    • NDLEA Seizes 1.2m Pills of Tramadol, Intercepts Intercepts Heroin Consignment

      CDS Gen Lucky Irabor

      DHQ Reacts as Embattled Reps’ Leader, Military Troops Appear in AK-47…

      police

      Gubernatorial-Assembly Elections: Police Commands Assure Citizens of Adequate Security in States

      Commodore SA Lawal Military Pension Boss MPB

      Debarment Allowance: Pension Board Requests Documents to Pay Military Retirees, NoKs’

      Inmates

      Drug Abuse Campaign: NDLEA Sensitizes Inmates in Ogun Juvenile Prison

  • Features
    • Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of APC

      Nigeria: At the Cusp of Renewed Hope By President-Elect Bola Tinubu

      Kwara Politics and Ward-to-Ward Campaign – A Personal Experience, By Gidado…

      Nigerian Navy's newest landing ship tank launched in Sharjah, UAE.

      Nigerian Navy and Feats of Designing Locally-Made Ships

      Nigerian Army

      How Nigerian Army is Enriching Civil-Military Relations through Community-Relations Approach

      How Strategic were 2023 Presidential Campaign Message?

  • State
    • Gov Abdulrahaman abdulrazak of Kwara

      AbdulRazaq tasks IEDPU on Development Projects

      herdsman

      Herders Killed 5,138 in Benue in Eight Years – BSEMA

      Kwara Gov mourns Death of Civil Rights Activist, Bashiru Saliu

      After APC’s Lanslide Victory in Kwara, Gov Leads Mustapha, Aluko, Shagaya…

      New Naira Notes: We Rejected Proposed April 10 Extension, Other FG’s…

  • Event
    • 12 Things you Should Know about Armed Forces Remembrance Day in…

      Buk 92 Class 30th Anniversary

      PHOTOS: WhatsApp Reunites BUK 92 Class After 30 Years… As Old…

      Nigerian Navy Charges Personnel On Discipline, Professionalism

      President Buhari Hails CDI Gen Samuel Adebayo on Defence Intelligence, Staff…

      At Ceremonial Sunset, Naval Chief Honours Officers who Freed 250 Abducted…

Home Government Why We Launch Virtual Court in Prison- Malami
  • Government

Why We Launch Virtual Court in Prison- Malami

By
Abubakar Malami
-
December 6, 2021
Abubakar Malami, SAN, Minister of Justice
Abubakar Malami, SAN, Minister of Justice

Why We Launch Virtual Court in Prison- Malami

Being an address by the Minister at the launch of virtual court sitting at Kuje Prison,Abuja on December 6, 2021

Permit me to thank the Honourable Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Comptroller – General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, the Nigerian Correctional Service, the Government of Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Spotlight Initiative for their cooperation and funding support which has made today’s event a reality.

One of the strategic interventions by the Federal Ministry of Justice towards engendering lasting reforms in the Criminal Justice Sector in Nigeria was the development of the Consolidated Sentencing Guidelines (Custodial and Non-Custodial) Practice Directions, 2020. The Ministry in collaboration with the Presidential Committee on Correctional Reforms and Decongestion thereafter hosted a Virtual Technical Session involving crucial stakeholders to review and validate the draft document.

At the end of the Session, it was recommended that “the Federal Ministry of Justice should expedite its engagement with the Nigerian Correctional Centres to make it possible for evidence of suspects in custody to be taken without their physical presence in court to avoid disruptions”

This is a re-enactment and consolidation of spirit of Administration of Criminal Justice Act targetted at speedy determination of cases by way of eliminating delays and displacement of denial of justice which will further support our policy of decongestion of correctional centres across the country.

It may be recalled that in my press release issued on the 20th of April 2020, on Post Covid-19 justice system plans, I had expressed the resolve of the Federal Ministry of Justice to respond appropriately to the challenges posed by the pandemic to the administration of justice in the country in collaboration with other critical stakeholders in the Justice Sector.

I also emphasized that there was the need for a paradigm shift in the administration of justice through the deployment of appropriate technologies to drive the administration of justice.
Accordingly, on the 27th of April 2020, the Committee on post Covid-19 Justice System in Nigeria was constituted and inaugurated. The primary aim of the committee is to assess and identify the challenges and impact of the Pandemic on the entire Justice System and make appropriate and actionable recommendations on the immediate, medium and long term measures for addressing the challenges of the pandemic.

One of the mandates of the committee is to work with the Nigerian Correctional Service to establish virtual court rooms/studios in correctional centres to enable suspects in custody participate in the remote hearing of cases or bail applications.

Consequently in this regard, the Ministry partnered with the UNDP and Japan Government towards deploying Virtual Court Proceedings in Correctional Centres nationwide with a Pilot Project in Kuje Correctional Centre.
As you may recall, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed various sectors of the economy of most countries of the world into a complete shutdown-from private sector organizations to public organizations, and even the Criminal Justice sector.
Court proceedings became delayed and there was an ensuing collapse of the prosecution of several high-profile cases. In the circumstance, the correctional centres were becoming overcrowded and gradually sliding into a very critical state. The Pandemic created a problem that basically could not be solved without the adoption of technology.
This project was, therefore, initiated to ensure the hearing and determination of urgent and time-bound cases, using the digital platform. This system would equally ensure speedy dispensation of trials in line with section 36(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), which provides that every person shall be entitled to fair hearing within a reasonable time. It would also eliminate the issue of difficulties in conveying the inmates to court and would further ensure the safety and security of the inmates and law enforcement officers.
We are no longer constrained by mobility, space and time in the justice delivery on account of accommodation of the virtual court sitting facilities and deployment of incidental technology.
Notably, our justice system is founded on the constitutional principle of fundamental rights to fair hearing that requires the court to hear and determine cases in public and the physical presence of the suspects or parties in court.
I assure you that the Virtual Court Proceedings are in compliance with the provisions of section 36(3) of the Constitution, which provides for public court sitting or hearing.  This Virtual Court Proceedings meet up with the expectation of the Constitution and are not private hearings but open to the respective counsel involved, the litigants (inmates) and the general public at large.
In addition, it is important to note that this virtual court hearing will not in any way contravene the provision of section 36(6) of the 1999 Constitution which provides for the arraignment, taking of evidence, tendering of documents, cross-examination and general conduct of criminal proceedings. In as much as these are done in accordance with the said provision, the virtual hearing would be valid.
This initiative will in no small measure help boost the economy by ensuring that funds meant for the movement of the inmates would be channeled to other essential areas of needs in the Correctional Centres, and assist the country to meet up with global best practice in terms of the Administration of the Criminal Justice.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I have no doubt whatsoever, that the effective deployment of these facilities for the virtual court sitting proceedings for the inmates will significantly contribute to the overall efficiency of the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
As we launch these facilities today, I am hopeful that this initiative would bring about effective virtual court sittings in correctional centres nationwide which would feed into the adoption of the National Judicial Council Guidelines on Virtual/Remote Court Sittings and Quick Access to Justice for incarcerated citizens in Correctional centres across the Federation.
At this juncture, I must appreciate the commitment and dedication of the Administration of Criminal Justice Reform (ACJR) Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice, the representatives of the UNDP and indeed, all stakeholders who worked round the clock to ensure the success of this project.

On behalf of the President, President Muhammadu Buhari, Federal Republic of Nigeria, I thank and express my deep appreciation to the Government of Japan and UNDP Spotlight Initiative for their funding support. We look forward to a continued collaboration and it is on this note that I wish to declare this facilities open.
Thank you.

ABUBAKAR MALAMI, SAN
HONOURABLE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION AND
MINISTER OF JUSTICE

www naijanewspaper

Kidnapped School Children

Yauri FGC Students, Kebbi
640 days 7 hours 5 minutes 24 seconds,

Baptist School Students, Kaduna
622 days 8 hours 46 minutes 49 seconds

Tegina Islamiya Pupils, Niger (Freed)
Spent 88 days from May 30, 2021 - August 26, 2021


Report By: PRNigeria.com

 
VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • Malami
  • Prison
  • Virtual Court
Previous articleNFIU Reacts to ISWAP Funding report by ECOWAS Body
Next articleNDPHC Confirms Messrs. Ak-AY Elektrik as Contractors on Owerri Substation
Abubakar Malami

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Fact-Check: Did a Yoruba Man Win State Assembly Election in Abia? 

NDLEA Seizes 1.2m Pills of Tramadol, Intercepts Intercepts Heroin Consignment

PHOTOS: ICPC Operatives Attacked as Young Vote Buyers Nabbed

Map of Nigeria

2023 Governorship Election: Live Updates from INEC IReV Results in 28 States

Efcc operatives attacked by political thugs

Vote Buying: Political Thugs Attack EFCC Operatives

US Department of States Spokesman, Ned Price

Fact-Check: Did US Congratulate Tinubu on Presidential Election Victory? 

Fact-Check: Did “Angry Obidients” Kill Prof Akpan For Not Allotting Votes to Peter Obi?

CDS Gen Lucky Irabor

DHQ Reacts as Embattled Reps’ Leader, Military Troops Appear in AK-47 Gun-Shooting Video

2023 Polls: BPSR, UNILAG sign MoU to Train Elected Governors

police

Gubernatorial-Assembly Elections: Police Commands Assure Citizens of Adequate Security in States

CISLAC boss, Musa Rafsanjani

TMG to INEC: Redeem your image by conducting credible March 18 elections

Commodore SA Lawal Military Pension Boss MPB

Debarment Allowance: Pension Board Requests Documents to Pay Military Retirees, NoKs’

  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
X whatsapp