Participants at the Step Down Training and Mentorship for Criminal Justice Actors and Civil Society Observatory Group members in Sokoto.
BY ANKELI EMMANUEL, Sokoto –
CLEEN Foundation with support from Mac Author Foundation has organized a 2-day step-down training and mentorship session for criminal justice actors and civil society observatory group members in Sokoto State where it decried that the Nigerian security agencies are suffering double jeopardy.
”The Nigerian security personnel are mostly suffering double jeopardy. The government does not really care about them. The civilian also sees them as enemies.
“While governors of the respective states take hundreds of millions of naira in the name of security votes monthly without doing the needful in their respective States to help tame insecurity.
According to CLEEN Foundation, the primary objective of the training is for criminal justice actors in Nigeria to address the fact that nobody is above the law.
Addressing participants on schematics of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) as well as the project overview, CLEEN Foundation’s Director of Programme, Salaudeen Hashim said the aim is to enhance the knowledge of participants on the framework and concepts of ACJL in the state.
“It is also geared towards improving the awareness of the participants on the roles coordination, collaboration and communication in the value chain, identify skills for the effective functioning of ACJL principles and strategies to strengthen state and civil society organizations interface”, Hashim enthused.
While noting that implementation of criminal justice is suffering set backs because of administrative, social and cultural and environmental challenges, Salaudeen submitted that effective welfare packages for security agencies is a stepping stone towards attaining the desired goals of ACJL in Nigeria.
“Justice sector reform is a two way traffic. That is, good welfare and modern working tools. Therefore, effectively efficient and up to date welfare packages for security personnel is one of the ways to get it correctly'”.
He decried that criminality has improved, which therefore brings to fore the need to deploy technology and modern aids in tackling the menace.
“”Until the needed sophisticated weapons are provided for the security agencies, fighting banditry and kidnapping will be a long battle””. He warned.
Salaudeen who appealed to the authorities to do the needful, also stressed that inter- agency rivalry often times hampers attainment of the desired goals of ACJL.
This, according to him is even more worrisome when lack of synergy between investigators and prosecutors constitutes set backs hence making people to loss good cases in Court.
He however said the Court is not sentimental as it deliver judgements based on evidence provided before it.
In his call for patriotism, Salaudeen urged the Nigerian police to urgently have a school of interrogation, saying diligent investigations are the bedrock of successful cases.
