BENIN CITY- Members of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) have been promised two slots for membership in the Information Subcommittee of the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee in Edo State during the British Council’s Rule of Law and Anti- corruption (ROLAC)” initiative meet up in Benin City.
This integration was borne out of the need to bridge prevailing misconceptions, doubt of the integrity of concerned parties on setout roles, hoarding of information, coupled with the need for visibility as the committee carries out its job.
The get together of media practitioners and members of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee aims to bridge existing loopholes and build synergy to solidify the administration of the criminal justice law in Edo State.
Chairman, Edo State Council of the NUJ, Sir Roland Osakue who spoke through the Treasurer, Osaretin Omokpae aside advocating for a good working relationship between both parties appealed for the establishment of a Press Corp in the Judiciary with the proviso for security for press men. The need for training of media practitioners on the use of judicial lexicon (language) by the Judiciary was also emphasized.
Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and also Chairman, Information subcommittee, Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee, Barrister Pius Oiwoh who informed that membership of the central working committee cut across heads of various security outfits, the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP), Human rights commission, the NBA, Civil Society and other interest groups, upheld that the committee addressed issues ranging from time of arrest to investigation, detention and trial.
Noting that the NUJ is a strategic partner at information dissemination, Oiwoh said the media body would help the committee with adequate dissemination and enlightenment of the public on activities of the committee on administration of criminal justice law and what it talks about and how it replaced the Criminal Procedure Law, the Criminal Procedure Act and also, the Criminal Procedure Code as operational in the Southern and Northern parts of the country.
The Police Duty Solicitor Scheme (PDSS) it was revealed, came into existence when the Police amended Order 20, thus, making provision for pro-bono (free) legal services to “Suspects/Accused” in order to exercise their fundamental human right in a bid to help decongest cells if found innocent.
Chibogu Obinwa of ROLAC, a British Council Initiative on good governance disclosed, “We wanted the media to have an interface with the information subcommittee on the Administration of Criminal Justice System in Nigeria (ACJN) as it is important to have activities of this group publicised to the public as the media is an important agency in communicating activities of this committee.
This interaction is important as it enables the media to understand what this group has done; look at areas of collaboration with the committee and also ask pertinent questions on how the committee can perform optimally to perform the implementation of the ACJN in Edo state.”
