With the plethora of legal, procedural and institutional challenges that have long impeded the effective administration of criminal justice in Nigeria, it is hoped that the move by President Bola Tinubu to repeal and replace the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, will address the challenges, Davidson Iriekpen writes
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t is with high hopes and great expectations that Nigerians look forward to the recent bill President Bola Tinubu transmitted to the National Assembly seeking to repeal the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 and re-enact it as the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2026.
The proposed legislation is intended to provide a legal framework for the administration of criminal justice in the courts within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and other federal courts across Nigeria. It also seeks to establish the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Council to promote effective and efficient administration of criminal justice in the country.
The Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who read the president’s letter on the floor of the Senate, said Tinubu’s proposal seems to ensure that Nigeria’s criminal justice system promotes the efficient management of criminal justice institutions and guarantees the speedy dispensation of justice.
Among the key reforms proposed are the abolition of trial-within-trial proceedings for confessional statements through new admissibility procedures, the establishment of a National Sex Offenders Register to be maintained by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the creation of a Witness Support Fund for the prompt payment of witness expenses and the introduction of plea forms to simplify arraignment procedures.
Other proposed reforms include mandatory timelines for courts to determine no-case submissions, wider use of written witness depositions to accelerate trials, enhanced judicial case management, restructuring of the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Council to broaden stakeholder representation, the appointment of an Executive Secretary for the council, granting of powers to the Attorney-General to issue implementation regulations and measures to prevent retrials resulting from the death, retirement or transfer of judges.
Nigeria’s criminal justice system has long been criticised for delays in investigations, prolonged pre-trial detention, congested correctional centres, and slow prosecution of criminal cases.
Before the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in 2015, criminal procedures in the country were governed by separate laws, including the Criminal Procedure Act in southern Nigeria and the Criminal Procedure Code in the northern states, resulting in inconsistencies in the administration of justice.
The ACJA 2015 was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan to harmonise criminal procedure across federal courts and introduce reforms aimed at speeding up criminal trials and protecting the rights of suspects, defendants and victims.
Before the law was enacted, the prosecution of high-profile persons had lingered in the courts for close to a decade without making any progress. But the beauty of the ACJA 2015 was the elimination of frivolous interlocutory applications to ensure the quick conclusion of criminal trials.
Among its notable provisions are restrictions on unnecessary adjournments, mandatory recording of confessional statements, monthly inspections of detention facilities by chief magistrates, and provisions designed to reduce the use of prolonged detention without trial.
When the landmark law was signed, many hailed it as legislation that would revolutionise the Nigerian criminal justice system, but as time went on, lawyers and judges started circumventing it.
As laudable as the ACJA 2015 is, it is still characterised by delays in investigations and prosecution, inadequate deployment of technology in criminal proceedings, inefficient coordination among criminal justice institutions, ineffective case management mechanisms, and limitations in the monitoring and evaluation of compliance with the provisions of the Act. The delays in the Nigerian justice system have made many Nigerians to lose confidence in the judiciary and resort to self-help and seek vengeance for any act of injustice.
It was not until the Supreme Court voided Orji Uzor Kalu’s conviction and ordered his release by declaring that Section 396(7) of the ACJA 2015 was unconstitutional, that many knew deficiency in the Act.
The apex court ruled that the trial judge, who had been elevated to the Court of Appeal, lacked the jurisdiction to return to the lower court to conclude the trial, rendering his conviction null and void.
Meanwhile, the section was to ensure speedy trail of criminal matters and curb the delay tactics used by defendants to frustrate prosecution when the initial trial judge is either transferred or elevated.
Also, compared to developed countries, the courts in Nigeria are still too slow. While it usually takes six to eight months to conclude trials in the UK, the United States, Canada and many parts of the world, it usually takes three to six years to conclude similar cases in Nigeria. From the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, it is usually another six or seven years altogether.
For example, since Chidinma Ojukwu was arraigned in October 2021 over the murder of Super TV CEO, Usifo Ataga, about five years on, there is no indication that the conclusion of the case is at sight.
It took about six years for the Lagos High Court to convict the killers of Cynthia Osokogu, his Facebook friends, who had raped her in a hotel at Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, before killing her.
In September 2024, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned a former Taraba State governor, Darius Ishaku, on charges of diversion of about N27 billion from the state’s treasury, but two years after, the case is not close to a conclusion.
While the Osokogu’s case was going on, five men who committed a similar offence in Britain were tried and convicted by the Warwick Crown Court within six weeks.
The gang – Waqaar Khan, Marcus Woolcock, Kadeem Bourne, Keenan Kelly and Zahid Chaudhary – who groomed teenage girls on Facebook before raping them in attacks carried out in 2015 and 2016 in Coventry, were jailed for a total of 44-and-a-half years.
In the case of former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, it took the UK court just six months to convict and sentence him for organ trafficking offences.
If it were in Nigeria, the case would still be in court.
In the United States, after thorough investigations, it took only six months for the federal courts in New York to convict and sentence two heavyweight musicians – R.Kelly and Sean Diddy Combs – for sex trafficking, racketeering, child sexual abuse and prostitution-related counts, respectively.
Only recently, it took the Southwark Crown Court in London six months to hear the six-count charge of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery levelled against Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
In January 2026, the trial proceeded without significant interruptions, and on June 17, 2026, the jury returned unanimous not-guilty verdicts for all defendants, bringing to an end the UK National Crime Agency’s lengthy investigation.
One lesson from the judgment in the UK for the Nigerian judiciary was the speed and consistency with which the proceedings were conducted. Once the trial commenced after a lengthy investigation, it progressed without the frequent adjournments that often characterise high-profile cases in Nigeria.
What Nigerians want to see is an administration of the criminal justice system that promotes efficient management of criminal justice institutions and guarantees the speedy dispensation of justice, protection of society from crime, and protection of the rights and interests of the suspects.
President Tinubu should do everything possible to ensure the proposed Act brings innovation to the system. An efficient criminal justice system is crucial for protecting the rights of Nigerians, reducing court backlogs, restoring confidence in the judiciary and decongesting correctional facilities.
