PLIGHT OF PRE-TRIAL DETAINEES AND THE QUESTION OF ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN NIGERIA
Chapter one
Introduction
The police, State prosecutors from the office of the Attorney General and the courts are independently established agencies set up for the administration of justice. As far as criminal justice administration is concerned, these agencies work in collaboration with each other in bringing offenders to justice. The criminal justice system is structured in such a way that such collaboration and coordination between the agencies is indispensable for its optimal performance.
In reality, however, we find that due to lack of synchronization and several other reasons, the criminal justice system has performed below expectation. Such poor score sheet is noticeable in the monumental delays experienced in the system and the technical discharge of the accused in most cases.
In Nigeria, it is not surprising for a simple case of assault occasioning harm to last for years. Instances where cases have lasted between ten to fifteen years are legion. The cause of this delay could, apart from the delay in investigations, be either the prosecution or defence lawyer who is usually in the habit of seeking unmerited adjournments from courts mostly where he is not prepared to go on with the case or the court itself in a rare occasions. Although it is a principle of law that adjournments are not granted as a matter of right, the courts very often oblige lawyers when they apply for adjournment of cases, sometimes on very flimsy reasons. Unfortunately, this practice has also robbed off on Judges and Magistrates many of whom are commonly seen arriving courts very late or failing to come to Court for some days without any extenuating or compelling reasons. The cumulative effect of this is that litigants continue to groan under this debilitating scenario of undue delays in the dispensation of justice. Accordingly, this “slow motion judicial process” has adverse effect on the quest for the quick dispensation of criminal justice in Nigeria.
The Nigerian prisons houses different categories of inmates, amongst the most prominent are the convicted and the pre trial inmates. It is no gainsaying that a good percentage of our prison inmates are on the pre trial list. As at march 2016, out of the total number of prison inmates in Nigerian prisons put at 61,527 inmates, 43, 864 are pre trial, or un-convicted as the reports referred to them, that is 71% of the total number of inmates . This second category of prison inmates can be further broken down into those whose trials are actually on-going and those whose trials are comatose albeit not convicted. At least for those whose trials are on gong there is hope, in that whatever may be the case their trial will not go on forever, and they retain the option of appeal if convicted.
Remand has become a popular word in the Nigerian Criminal Justice System. Among many, the belief is that remand is ordered simply when criminal matters for which the magistrates court lacks jurisdiction are brought before them, and of course such magistrates have to decline jurisdiction and ultimately remand such persons brought before it in the prison, as they await the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution for trial in the High Court or for their discharge. Olisa Agbakoba defined it thus:
This is a system of bringing an accused before an inferior court that lacks jurisdiction to try him or her for the primary purpose of securing a remand order and thereafter abandon him or her in prison under the pretence of pre trial.
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