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Tag: Ministry of Justice

FG saves N4.5 trillion from high profile cases

The Federal Government on Wednesday disclosed that it has saved over N4.5 trillion from high profile cases prosecuted by the Ministry of Justice between 2015 and 2017.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami briefed State House correspondents at the end of about seven hours Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He was with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello.

According to Malami, his Ministry presented its score card to Council in the last two and a half years.

He said “In respect of Federal Ministry of Justice what was presented to the Council today is the score card from 2015 to 2017

“We presented a score card as to cases both civil, criminal that were prosecuted by the Federal Ministry of Justice and their implications as to savings that were done for the government commencing from 2015 to the present time.

“Fundamentally arising from the cases that were conducted by the Federal ministry of Justice, the Ministry has succeeded in saving the government around N4.5 trillion relating to the claims that were presented in respect of these cases which were indeed conducted and concluded.” he

Continuing, the Minister said “The Federal Government has put in place a committee saddled with the responsibilities of coming up with policies and strategies that will ease off congestion of prisons.

“Over 70 percent of the inmates are awaiting trials there are sizeable number that couldn’t afford to pay limited fine that have been imposed by them arriving from their convictions.

“There are those awaiting trials that have never seen the court room for over five years and above and indeed there are multiple legislation that are before the national assembly that are intended to support the decongestion of prison formation process.” he said

He said that another area the Ministry presented its score card was the ongoing prosecution of Boko Haram cases.

On Boko Haram suspected terrorists ongoing trial, he said that the total number of convictions so far is 255 and those discharged is 737.

He said “We presented a position as to the number of cases that were prosecuted, number of convictions that were procured and the number of discharges that were made relating to the cases and then made a presentation as to the road maps for the continuation of the process.

“There were other presentations that were made particularly as it relates to plea bargain. There are a lot of pending criminal cases in respect of the accused persons standing trials, who made offers for plea bargain.

“Again there are high profile cases that we made our score card and gave an insight as to their respective positions.

“A presentation was made relating to national prosecution team as it relates to the cases they are expected to prosecute.” he said

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi also disclosed that FEC has approved the construction of the Ibadan – Kaduna rail lines at the cost of $6.7 billion.

The project, he said, is expected to be completed in three years.

According to him, the contract for the Kaduna to Kano aspect of the rail line was awarded last year.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, also briefed on the progress made based on the recently approved executive order, the national strategy for competitiveness and the entire science and technology innovation road map.

As part of the score card of the Ministry in the past two and half years, he presented new biscuits being produced in conjunction with Nasco Food.

He said “High nutrient density products developed and proposed for inclusion in the current Nigerian School Feeding program will provide at least a third of the desired major macro and micro nutrients requirement stipulated by the World Health organization, Food and Nutrition Board.

“Additionally, the products will be produced by NASCO Foods Limited, Jos that have state-of-the-art processing equipment with vast experience in Food processing, Food Safety and quality for production and supply chain nationwide.

“The developed nutritious products have been tested using Nasco Food processing facilities in Jos and have been found to be technically and economically viable.

“The pupils in the schools in Jos and Lagos where the sensory evaluation and consumer acceptability studies were done showed strong likeness for the products and are ready to consume the products if including in the school feeding program.” he said

On his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said that the major projects which were rolled out by his ministry, including the citizens diplomacy program, desk to desk review initiatives and the economic diplomacy innovation, are recording successes.

He also gave score card of his Ministry in the past two and half years to the Council.

He listed the special interventions by the Buhari’s administration for the ministry, foreign missions and embassies to include N16.3 billion, N933 million, N7 billion, $32 million and $28 million.

According to him, all the interventions were made as the President decided that he would not entertain sending Nigerians abroad without the necessary funding.

He said “Special intervention fund to rescue many embassies in several countries of the world. First was in 2016 when the Naira was fluctuating terribly and of course the dollars to our embassies were too low to sustain them.

“We received initially N16.3 billion, and was successfully distributed to all embassies. The second one was N933 million for renovations and other debts released in October, 2017.

“The third was $32 million that were released for critically distressed 65 missions that were in serious debts and crisis. This was approved in November 2017 and we are in the process of distributing to the embassies around the world another one, $28 million and is the process of also being distributed and finally for ministry headquarters, the sum of N7 billion was made.” he said

He added “A lot of the debts and the crisis in our embassies and missions around the world have been building over the last 10 years and Mr. President decided that he will no longer accept the situation where we are sending Nigerians out to represent this country and not given them the resources to be able to carry out their tasks. Hence he made provisions and directed that these funds should be released to them.

“So the situation is still not perfect but this has come in very handily and of course in the interest of transparency we wanted to show how these funds had been disbursed.” he stated

The Minister of FCT disclosed that FEC approved N1.9 billion for road reconstruction of Clinton Drive and N273 million for water treatment chemicals.

Read Also: Tracking high-profile corruption cases

February 21, 2018
Airtel, Lagos partner to curb domestic, sexual violence

Airtel Nigeria has announceed a partnership with the Lagos State government to curb the menace of domestic and sexual violence across the metropolis.

Through the Shortcode, 6820, both organizations are encouraging victims and other residents to report cases of domestic violence, sexual violence and child abuse.

No doubt that Lagos is leading the campaign through the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) while Airtel is providing network resource for the short-code and other telecoms related support.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative today (16/10/16), the Director of Citizens Right, Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Clara Omotilewa Ibirogba, who also chairs the DSVRT, said the use of technology in combatting sexual and gender based violence is the first of its kind in Nigeria, noting that Lagos state is optimistic that the short-code will yield great results in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence.

Explaining how the short-code is used, Ibirogba said victims or eyewitness can either dial *6820# or send an SMS to 6820 using the key word, child abuse. Upon sending the SMS, users will receive information on steps to take for the respective case (rape, child abuse, domestic violence, etc).

The short code will enable the government gather information that can be used for the formulation of prevention policies for Lagos state.

“A report would also be logged and forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement Agency or Ministry,” she said.

She also commended Airtel Nigeria for its support to the campaign and for backing the State to fight the ugly incidents of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual abuse.

October 17, 2017
Vice Principal bags life jail for raping 12-year-old pupil

An Ekiti State High Court has sentenced former Vice Principal of St. Mary’s Girls Grammar School, Ikole-Ekiti, Taiwo Ajayi, to life imprisonment for raping a 12-year-old student (name withheld).

The court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, found Ajayi guilty of raping a minor contrary to Section 31(2) of the Child Rights Law of Ekiti State 2012. The convict was the Vice Principal (Academics) at the time he committed the offence on March 18, 2014.

Ajayi lured the girl into his office, locked the door from behind and raped her on the table while blocking her mouth with a cloth. One of the teachers locked the door but the convict refused to open the door and threatened her not to tell anybody.

Two teachers stormed the victim’s office finding the door locked but gained entrance after about 30 minutes and discovered the shock find of the vice principal having carnal knowledge of the girl.

Justice Monisola Abodunde held that the prosecution had proved the case beyond every reasonable doubt on the strength of evidence placed before the court.

The prosecution was led by Mr. A.E. Arogundade of the Ministry of Justice while the defence was led by Mr. Sule Longe. The convict was first arraigned in court on October 14, 2016 and he pleaded not guilty to the charge.

In delivering the judgment, Justice Abodunde rejected the convict’s counsel’s plea for leniency on grounds that his client is a first offender, father and breadwinner of an aged mother.

Justice Abodunde held: “The cases of child dfilement has been on the increase lately and to serve as a deterrent to others, my view is that the punishment stipulated by the lawmakers was deliberate to deter the offence and protect the right to dignity of the child.

“The defence counsel is pleading for leniency and praying for fine instrad of the due punishment. My question is: who pays the victim for the lifetime scar of the trauma and torture of rape.

“I am unable to deviate from the provisions of the law in this instant. The defendant is found guilty as charged and sentenced to life imprisonment.”

The prosecution called eight witnesses including a medical practitioner from the State University Teaching Hospital, police officers who investigated the case, two other pupils and a teacher in
the school.

Exhibits tendered include a medical report, statement of the accused, report of the panels set up by the school authorities and Teaching Service Commission, medical report from the police clinic, statement of the victim, among others.

The two panels set up to investigate the matter indicted Ajayi which led to his suspension from service after which he was arrested and arraigned to face the charge.

June 29, 2017
Ministry to review environmental laws to reflect global best practice

The Federal Ministry of Environment says it will review the country’s environmental laws to reflect global best practice.

Mr John Alonge, the Director, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Federal Ministry of Environment, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Alonge said the review would help ensure sustainability of the environment

“We are looking at a situation whereby we’ll have quality guidelines that will reflect the emerging global issues.

“So we are also trying to see how we are going to revise old guidelines and also develop new ones and at the end of the day see that the existing ones are revised in line with emerging global trends.

“And not only that, we are looking at the quality assurance of the process, that is, the process of EIA must meet international standards.

“So we are looking at the situation whereby there will be periodic system of review of our process, see where we are meeting up and where we are not meeting up, so that we can bridge the gap.’’

He said the act was presently in the Ministry of Justice after which it would be forwarded to the Federal Executive Council and later to the National Assembly.

He said the department`s mandate was to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment by monitoring how the environmental assessment would be carried out across the country.

The director said that the essence of reviewing the environmental laws and guidelines was to manage and control widespread environmental degradation in the country.

Alonge said the environment act had been in existence for more than two decades and needed to be reviewed.

He noted that the ministry had organised various stakeholder meetings on the issue with a view to ensuring effective implementation of the reviewed act.

He also said the ministry collaborated with Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) and other relevant stakeholders to enable it to actualise the plan.

“We discovered that there is deficiency in some environmental areas, such as climate change, environmental assessment among others.

“There are plans, programmes and policy that are affecting the environment so if the act is reviewed, all the environmental problems will be addressed.’’

March 27, 2017
Sokoto: Govt. recruits 17 lawyers

Sokoto State Government has recruited seventeen lawyers to facilitate the speedy dispensation of justice in the state.

The Chairman of the State Civil Service Commission (CSC), Alhaji Bature Shinkafi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto on Monday.

Shinkafi said that the recruitment was approved by Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, saying that the new lawyers would be deployed to the Ministry of Justice.

The chairman, a former Head of the Civil Service (HOS), also averred that the gesture would help in decongesting prisons in the state.

“This is because justice delayed is justice denied and the state government is determined to ensure timely dispensation of justice,” he added.

Shinkafi noted that the state government was employing various cadres of workers in spite of the economic recession to beef up its workforce.

According to him, this is imperative as it helps in addressing the teeming unemployment among youths across the state.

“This also will help in reducing unemployment, poverty and curb youth restiveness normally associated with idleness,” Shinkafi said.

NAN recalls that the state government had in 2016 recruited no fewer than 500 graduates as part of efforts to reduce unemployment in the state.

March 13, 2017
NGO advocates full implementation of Special People’s Law in Lagos

The Centre for Human Rights and Empowerment (CHRE), on Thursday,has called for the full implementation of the Lagos State Special People’s Law.

Mr Olusola Akinbode, the Executive Director of the centre, made the call at a Media Roundtable in Lagos.

Akinbode said that there was a wide gap between the People with Disabilities (PWDs) and the able-bodied, which he said, was the reason for the enactment of the law.

The law was passed by the 6th Lagos State House of Assembly in June 2011.

The Governing Board of the Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA) was inaugurated by former Gov. Babatunde Fashola on July 9, 2012 and charged with implementing the Law. the Law seeks to uphold the rights of all persons living with any form of disability in Lagos State by safeguarding them against all forms of discrimination and giving them equal rights and opportunities.

The Law also seeks to uphold the rights of all persons living with any form of disability in Lagos State by safeguarding them against all forms of discrimination and giving them equal rights and opportunities.

Akinbode said, “This effort is part of a continuing process of creating awareness for the rights of people with disabilities.

“Today, implementing the law is still a problem, this is because the government is not fully committed to its implementation,” Akinbode said.

Also, Dr Babatunde Awenleje, the General Manager of LASODA, said that the office had taken up the responsibility of developing a database to effectively plan for people with disabilities.

Awelenje said that the database would enable the state government to formulate policies to empower and make them relevant in the scheme of things.

He said LASODA was also planning to establish coordinating offices across the 20 local government areas to decentralise its office for the convenience of members.

“LASODA has organised a lot of activities to sensitise the PWDs not to see themselves as a second fiddle in the society.

“We plan to create coordinating offices to be headed by PWD as a way of giving them employment,” Awelenje said.

In her remarks, Dr Ngozi Udonbana, the Head of Post-Graduate Studies, Nigeria Institute of Advance Legal Studies, urged the government to train and empower people with disabilities.

Also, Mrs Anthonia Oredipe, the Director, Directorate for Citizens Right, Ministry of Justice, in Lagos, said that government would do everything possible to guide the rights of PWDs.

Oredipe said that the state government had exempted them from paying for the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) services.

“I think integrating them into all facets of life will be a lasting solution to the issue of discrimination against PWDs in the state,” Oredipe said.

December 1, 2016
Alleged $1.6b judgment debt fraud: ‘Ministry of Justice not involved in payment’

A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke(SAN) yesterday said the ministry was not involved in the payment of the $1.6billion judgment debt obtained by the 774 local government councils in the country.

He said he ensured the decentralization of judgment debt payment as part of steps to check the abuse of the policy.

He said by the operation of the Policy, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation was only a nominal party to suits initiated against MDAs.

He said the Ministry of Finance was primarily liable on the payment of the $1.6billion.

Adoke , who made the clarifications in a statement in Abuja said he only presented a memo to the Federal Executive Council, which approved that the payment of Judgment debts be decentralized.

He said: “It will be recalled that when I assumed office in 2010, one of the reforms measures I initiated was the decentralization of payment of judgment debts, which was before then, domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Justice.

“This became pertinent in view of allegations of collusion, connivance, bribery and other acts of corruption that had trailed the Judgment Debt payment system I had inherited.

“ I therefore presented a Memorandum on the issue to the Federal Executive Council, which considered the reasons I had articulated and approved that the payment of Judgment debts be decentralized (meaning that henceforth, the various MDAs will be responsible for payment of judgment debts that they were primarily liable from their budgetary allocations).

“The objective was to make the MDAs take active interest in cases that they were involved, ensure robust defence to such actions and instill transparency and accountability in the system.

“By the operation of the Policy, the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation was only a nominal party to suits initiated against MDAs including suit number FHC/ABJ/129/2013, where the Ministry of Finance was the Primary/Principal Party.

“This notwithstanding, when enforcement proceedings commenced, I wrote to the Ministry of Finance to ascertain whether they had appealed the judgment. The Ministry’s response to my enquiry was that they did not appeal and had no intention of appealing the judgment.

“It was at this stage that I advised that steps be taken to reach an amicable settlement that can guarantee a win-win outcome. This was the advisory role I could play under the prevailing policy.”

He insisted that the ministry was not involved in the payment of the $1.6billion.

The former Minister added: “It should be appreciated that the Federal Ministry of Justice was not involved in the payment of the alleged judgment sum and could not have been involved since the Ministry of Finance was primarily liable. I could therefore not have been involved in the alleged diversion.

“ It is instructive to note that the publication detailed the names of individuals and corporate entities to which monies were allegedly paid. I am not mentioned as an individual beneficiary and therefore find it mischievous and malicious that my name featured prominently in the aforementioned headline.

“I therefore urge my well-wishers and other Nigerians who have expressed concern over the publication to be rest assured that I was not a party to any unwholesome act or diversion of public funds as alleged.

“The EFCC has no reason to investigate me on the strength of this frivolous petition. I reiterate that in all my public service, my only motivation was the desire to serve my fatherland and contribute my quota to the development of our great country.”

June 8, 2016
Ministry, stakeholders dialogue on FOIA implementation draft guidelines

The Federal Ministry of Justice, civil society organisations and stakeholders, last week, in Abuja, held a consultative forum improve the revised guidelines on the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2011.

The forum afforded participants the opportunity to take an overview of the draft guidelines and its implementation, the objectives of the FOIA, examine the challenges against effective implementation of the guidelines on FOIA and contribute to the draft guidelines which are likely to be published before the end of the year.

In his opening remarks at the event, which held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Auditorium, Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), restated his commitment to full implementation of and compliance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. 2011 (FOIA)

He said the forum was a collaborative initiative between the Federal Ministry of Justice and Democratic Governance for Development Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Adoke said: “ The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) came into operation on May 28, 2011. Under Section 1 of the Act, all government or public institutions are required, subject to certain exceptions, to disclose information pursuant to a request by a certain person.

He said: “It is worthy recalling that the implementation of FOIA is one of the cardinal strategies of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) being pursued under the aegis of the Panel on the Implementation of Justice Reforms (PIJR ) chaired by Justice Ishaq Bello of the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) High Court.

The sixth platform of the AGF’s plan outlines as priorities the development of FOIA guidance manuals for government agencies, training programmes for the agencies and the facilitation of desk officers for the management of FOI information and privacy issues.

He went on: “Conscious of the need to have a participatory approach to FOIA process, I have initiated a process of updating the guidelines through a participatory process with the hope of publishing the revised version later this year. This process is supported by the Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) project, a joint donor-funded project with the overall aim of strengthening the democratic character of Nigerian political process and promoting outcomes that consolidate and advance democratic governance and accountability to achieve the country’s stated development priorities and goals specified in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework. (UNDAF) and the Country ProgrammeAction Plan (CPAP).”

Project Director (DGD) Dr. Mourtada Deme said: “ We welcome the initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Justice on the Freedom of Information Act and appreciate the efforts of the AGF Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) at ensuring transparency and accountability of public institutions through the effective implementation of the FOI Act in Nigeria.

“We are honoured to be the lead supporter, working with the Ministry of Justice to support improved compliance and reporting of public institutions on the status of their compliance with the FOI Act to the National Assembly and the public.”

“DGD’s support covers the revision of the National Reporting Guidelines with stakeholders input, publication and dissemination of the revised guidelines, six regional trainings of members of FOI Committees in ministries, departments and agencies, the coordination of an FOI Stakeholders Forum, publication of an FOI newsletter by the stakeholders forum and an FOI website containing information collated from Ministries, departments and agencies.

“Over a year ago, the Freedom of Information Act was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan. It was hailed as an historic moment all around the country because of the potential of the FOIA to demystify institutions of governance and encourage active citizen participation in the governance process. It is important that government institutions are sensitized and equipped to supply information based on request from individual citizens, civil society and other groups. Access to information is critical for national development and strategic for peace, security and conflict resolution. Government MDAs need to effectively implement the FOI and put in place solid record management procedures, proactive information disclosure and trained personnel who can speedily respond to requests for information within the stipulated time frame of the Act.”

He continued:“We are pleased to note that the Ministry of Justice is taking a lead role in building institutional capacity and nurturing openness, accountability and transparency of government institutions and processes through its programmes to support Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies on the effective implementation of the Freedom of information Act”.

“I salute the expert panel on the Review of the National Reporting Guidelines who have worked hard to revise the guidelines in the light of emerging lessons and in accordance with international best practice. I urge all stakeholders present today to thoroughly engage the revised guidelines to ensure a focused, user-friendly and result oriented document that will effectively assist all public institutions in the discharge of their responsibilities to comply with the FOI Act.”

Deme said: “I look forward to the outcomes of today’s consultative forum and reaffirm the commitment of the DGD project and its international partners to support the Federal Ministry of Justices on its initiatives to ensure the successful implementation of the FOI Act in Nigeria.”

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Human Rights and Legal matter, Senator Umaru Dahiru, said: “With the efforts of the government to improve the understanding and appreciation of the FOIA, Nigeria will be better for it.”

Speaking on areas of the Act that still needed clarification, Dahiru said: “We have this issue of exemption, the issue of uniformity, etc.”

He called on the public to make use of the FOIA which is a very powerful tool to probe the activities of the government and its agencies.

Mr. Wale Fapohunda said of the consultation forum: “It is a good thing that the process of consultation is continuing, clearly, this shows seriousness by the Ministry of Justice to activate its role of oversight. He said: “ This is a very important step, understanding the guidelines is a very important step, the next step is now, having understood the guidelines, how do we proceed from there, that is where the challenge is, nevertheless, this ia very good initiative. Going forward is implementation of the guidelines, how do we implement the guidelines.”

On whether the forum achieved the objectives of the organisers, Prof Deji Adekunle said: “I think largely it has because some of the people we have here have contributed very usefully, to ideas by which we can review the guidelines. The guidelines are simply meant to give flesh to the Act and ensure that when officers are in doubt, they have some kind of guidelines to assist them”.

“Indeed, this has helped tremendeously, while we are reviewing, is to receive a lot of input from stakeholders. That is why you see a lot of stakeholders from civil society here and also government stakeholders to look at some grey areas that the first edition of the guidelines did not capture. As you can see, the discussions are quite robust and we hope that at the end of the day, the revised guidelines will be a better product for all of us”

For Mr. Maxwell Kadiri of Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI): “This is a useful engagement because we don’t want to saddle key stakeholders who are to use this document with a fait accompli, so, there are several layers on which this becomes important. One, so that we can basically ensure that the guidelines also address what has been the experience in the last one and half years in terms of complying with the Act. Two, so that they also have ownership of the document, because it is supposed to serve like their Bible, particularly where you are not sure of what the provisions of the Act is encouraging you to do. Then the guideline then provides you with additional clarity built on both legal and extra legal experiences and basically in furtherance of the overriding objective of the Act which is promoting the public right.

And, thirdly, to expand the stakeholding in terms of this document because the guidelines, much as they would be used by public institution are also supposed to inform members of the public on what public institutions are expected to do as interpreted by the chief legal officer of the federation, in all these levels, you will find that it certainly is useful to ensure that in developing the document, you get several people and develop robust document that is able to address all of these issues and many more.”

Kadiri said:“There is also the possibility that, because it is a new area of law in this part of the world, there is every likelihood that even the Judiciary, may also benefit from these guidelines because this law also applies to the three arms of government. But so far we have seen sufficient action from the other two arms of government and for him, this is like blazing a trail that the other arms of government may like to look at in terms of what kind of advisory document would help, so that desk officers who are supposed to prefect compliance with this legislation in their arms of government, would be adequately directed on what to do and what not to do.”

Onyema Omenuwa, a participant, said: “I enjoyed every bit of the contributions, the robust discussions. I am quite impressed. The only area that I don’t seem to really understand is responses from the civil society organisations. I am aware, because I used to be in the media, that civil society organisations championed the crusade for the passing of the FOIA. In fact, there was a time I was mobilised among others to come to Abuja for it.

“That was during the Senate’s public hearing on the bill. I was there and the civil society organisations were actively involved, now the Act has been passed. At this implementation stage, civil society organisations appear to have developed cold feet. I am not impressed because they championed the crusade and are supposed to take advantage of the provisions of this Act now. At a forum like this I expected a massive turn out of civil society organisations and they are not here. We have only a few of them here and it is quite discouraging, how the do they hope to take advantage of the provisions of the Act.”

December 4, 2012