By Jonathan Gunu Taidi
Every society, no matter how primitive has in place a set of rules and mechanisms to ensure law and order for its progress. This arrangement can safely be termed as “administration of justice”
These rules and mechanisms cut across all aspects of human interaction and legal segments; be it criminality, trade, civil cum business relations and the like.
Nigeria as a country has in place its own set of rules and mechanisms which engineer the administration of justice within the country. To this end, there are a plethora of legislations almost too numerous to number. Apart from legislations, there are judicial precedents, customs and usages also relevant in the rules and mechanisms.
For the purpose of this paper, we will limit ourselves to some key major legislations within Nigeria, examining their roles, performances and possible interrelatedness in the administration of justice in the country, while citing relevant cases and customs where the need arises the primary focus.
Will be on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Criminal Code Act, the Penal Code Act, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Marriage Act, Evidence Act 2011, Company and Allied Matters Act 2020, CBN Act, Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act.
THE CONSTITUTION
The constitution stands supreme among every legislation, case law or custom in Nigeria. It is from the wordings and spirit of the constitution that every other enactment or legal regime draw root, to the extent that any legal instrument, pronouncement or custom that does not conform to it, stands null. This means that the constitution covers a vast spectrum of legal segments, too vast for the purpose of this paper. The Constitution of any country, Nigeria inclusive reserves the power to steer the country’s fortunes through the administration of justice, mapping out the extent to which other laws can go in dealing with rights and obligations.
In Nigeria for example, in determining the rights of individuals, the constitution vide chapter 4 therein copiously spells out what is termed “Fundamental Rights” to ensure justice for its citizens as it relates to their freedom to life and living in general. To this end, the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules 2009 (FREP Rules) is extant to procedurally put the dictates of the Constitution to practice. It is the Constitution in conjunction with the FREP Rules and other human rights Charters such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right and sundry legislations that work to protect the rights of individuals.
Another major constitutional role in the administration of justice in Nigeria is as it relates to the creation of courts and their duties. These courts in turn, put to practice the dictates of the constitution and other enactments that draw root and legitimacy from the constitution.
Chapter Two of the Constitution is collectively termed “Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy”. This part of the constitution which essentially houses the fundamental duties of government to its people are not justiciable- meaning that nothing from the said part can directly and comfortably form the essence of any litigation within the country. Not even a recent attempt to remedy this was successful as the 9th National Assembly rejected a bill to so do.[i] To my mind, this is a major setback to the administration of justice itself, for what justice is there if government cannot be held legally liable for failing to do that which is spelt in the highest law of the land; which forms the very essence of their existence in the first place? Obedience to laid down rules is made easy when the subjects of such rule have access to quality life.
There are other loopholes in the constitution that impede the effective administration of justice. They will form parts of other discourse.
CRIMINAL CODE ACT (“CCA”), PENAL CODE ACT (“PCA”) AND ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (“ACJA”)
The CCA and the PCA are the major substantive enactments that deal with administration of criminal justice in Nigeria. They apply to the Southern and Northern parts of Nigeria respectively. Some other enactments that also regulate the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria are: the Anti Money Laundering Act, Armed Robbery and Fire Arms Act, etc.
It is these enactments that prescribe what constitute offences, the ingredients that can ground a conviction for such offenses and the punishment for same.
Although the CCA and PCA are materially the same in terms of offences and sanctions, there are points of divergence, for instance, while adultery is a crime under the PCA, there exists no such in the CCA. Another point of divergence between the two laws is the nomenclature given to murder. While the CCA terms it murder, the PCA terms it culpable homicide punishable with death. Generally, the PCA is influenced by the tenets of sharia law from which certain provisions therein draw root.
The criminal law regime in Nigeria also houses what is known as strict liability offenses. Strict liability offenses are offenses that do not require the presence of the key elements of a crime to wit: mens rea (criminal intention) and actus reus (criminal action). It suffices as a crime when the criminal act is carried out without any intention. Examples of strict liability offenses are road traffic offences, environmental law offenses and the like.
One major downturn of the CCA and PCA is the fine prescriptions which have outlived their usefulness, hence creating the need for appropriate amendments to reflect current economic realities. Fines as low as one hundred naira are still extant in these laws.
When it comes to the procedural administration of criminal justice in Nigeria, the ACJA 2015 is the extant enactment. The ACJA though an Act, is made subject to ratification and domestication by individual states, so that, states that are yet to domesticate same as the extant law within their jurisdiction still make use of the Criminal Procedure Code (North) and Criminal Procedure Act (South). These two were the principal procedural enactments for criminal justice before the advent of the ACJA in 2015. The ACJA have made remarkable improvements in procedure and practice of criminal investigation and prosecution, examples of which is the abolition of arrest in lieu of a suspect, abolition of the bias against women sureties, provision of electronic means of recording accused statement and many more.
There have however been some practical challenges to the effective application of these innovations as security operatives still prefer to do things the old way; people are still being arrested in lieu of suspects, there have been conflicting pronouncements from the Court of Appeal regarding the section (s) of the Act that has to do with the recording of statements of suspects. There are at least two different decisions of the court that uphold the innovation and struck down same for allegedly usurping the powers of the Evidence Act respectively. It is hoped that all issues relating to the smooth implementation of the Act are resolved speedily to make for clarity of purpose and certainty.
COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 2020 (“CAMA”)
This legislation prescribes the legal framework for business and charitable entities, regulating their rights and obligations.
The CAMA as amended in 2020 has made significant changes to the business environment, prominent of which is the ‘one -man -Company’ to the extent that as opposed to the previous requirement, a single person can own a company. It has also introduced new entities such as limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships.
The CAMA is a massive enactment that touches on virtually every aspect of business relations with regard to corporate entities. It is extant to ensure effective administration of justice from the business cum corporate point of view. It cannot be overemphasized the importance of business in a country’s economy and the CAMA and other legislations are relevant to ensure stability. Some of the other legislations that regulate businesses in Nigeria are CBN Act, Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act, etc.
EVIDENCE ACT
Procedurally, every law made in Nigeria passes through the tests of the Evidence Act in the sense that in establishing the key requirements of certain rights and obligations as prescribed by any such law, the rules and dictates of the Evidence Act are employed to establish liability or culpability. There is hardly any claim or charge before a competent court of law that can escape the prescriptions of the Evidence Act. It can safely be stated that everything that has to do with the procedural administration of justice in Nigeria is based on the evidence Act. The Act broadly sets the requisite tests upon which liability and culpability are established.
CONCLUSION
The administration of justice in Nigeria is a collection of various aspects of legal regimes of which some major ones have been briefly discussed above. For any nation to grow legally and economically, it must pay close attention to the key legislations within its legal framework and ensure that justice is served in their various regards and ultimately, the administration of justice will make both legal and economic sense. This paper is not exhaustive of all that has to do with the administration of justice, however the points made above suffices for general knowledge and appraisal.