Nigeria’s Attorney-General and the Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has reaffirmed his commitment to implementing reforms for effective justice delivery across the country.
The Attorney general made the assertion during the Ministerial Sectoral Update on the performance of the ministry under the administration of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the last year.
Fagbemi said that an efficient justice system is crucial for Nigeria’s economic growth, development and citizens’ socio-economic well-being, adding that Investors are attracted to economies that have institutionalized functional judicial system and where the rule of law prevails.
“Since the inception of this administration, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed that deliberate steps be taken to ensure strategic reforms in various sectors of the Country. In furtherance of the President’s priority assigned to the Ministry ‘improve governance for effective service delivery’’, the Ministry has made concerted and collaborative efforts with relevant stakeholders in the justice sector which culminated in significant gains and achievements,” he said.
Criminal Prosecutions
On Criminal Prosecutions, the AGF emphasised that the ministry secured 160 convictions for criminal offences, 87 convictions for terrorism cases, 3 novel convictions for extremist terrorism actors involved in the radicalization of children and violence against women.
He said the ministry has enhanced interagency synergy for prosecution of Maritime Cases, Electricity offences, collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders on cybersecurity protection and cybercrime prosecution.
Terrorism Financing
While speaking on Terrorism Financing and other trans-national crimes, the minister said they have Convicted 13 Terrorism financing cases and have successfully concluded 150 Mutual Legal Assistance requests and 12 Extradition requests from Law Enforcement Agencies and foreign countries.
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“I am pleased to report that following the Ministry’s intervention for the upgrade of facilities designated for trial of terrorism cases, the Ministry has resumed trials of terrorism cases in conjunction with the Legal Aid Council, National Human Rights Commission and other stakeholders. The percentages of Terrorism Cases initiated and Corruption Cases concluded within the reporting period has been significant,” he said.
According to him,“The Ministry places priority on enhancing the Prosecutorial and Litigation capacity of its staff, to this end, it organized capacity building programmes to improve knowledge on various aspects of the Law including Darknet and Cryptocurrencies applied to Terrorism Financing, investigation and prosecution of financial and Wildlife Crimes in Nigeria.
“A major positive development in the anti-corruption agenda is the adoption of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS). The NACS was first adopted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) July, 2017 spanning 2017 to 2021. The NACS implementation has now been extended to 2026.
“The implementation of the Strategy is on-going with modest achievements such as increased transparency with the growth of initiatives like Freedom of Information, Beneficial ownership disclosures, Open Contracting and routine corruption risk assessments to determine vulnerabilities to corruption, including systems reviews to tackle the anomaly from the roots recorded,” he added
Fagbemi further reeled out the achievements of Agencies under the supervision of the ministry and commended the judiciary for its efforts in dispensing justice and strengthening democratic processes in the country.
“I wish to restate the Ministry’s commitment to the achievement of its mandate. We also pledge to continue to pursue the implementation of resolutions reached at the National Justice Summit, 2024. In a federation and constitutional democracy such as ours, collaboration between Federal, State and other stakeholders in the justice sector is critical to drive the reforms of the justice system for national development,” he said.
