Justice Sector Reform Team: Stakeholders Applaud Passage of Law

By Lucky Isibor

Stakeholders in the Edo State justice sector are applauding the passage of a Law for the Establishment of the Edo State Justice Sector Reform Team JRT, by the Edo State House of Assembly. They all agreed that the law when accented to by the State Governor, will enhance quick dispensation of justice, protect human rights and decongest the correctioner facilities in the state.

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State

The immediate past chairman of the Benin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Lion Bar, Pius Oiwoh (Esq) noted that the JRT Establishment Bill as passed into law by the Edo State House of Assembly is geared towards strengthening the justice sector and repose confidence in the Judiciary.

While pointing out that the Justice Sector Reform Team Law is to guarantee peace and enhance the protection of human rights, Oiwoh eurogised the Edo State Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Joe Acha for championing these reforms just as he gave kudos to Hon. Justice Efe Ikponwonba; the Judge in charge of the Criminal Division of Edo State High Court and Chairman of the Justice Sector Reform Team JRT, for her efforts to see these reforms through; adding that it constains institutional safe guards to ensure compliance by all Judges.

According to Oiwoh, "the JRT Bill just passed by the House of Assembly tends to strengthen the justice sector to a very large extent. There are a whole lot of reforms that are in the law which will enhance speedy and effectual dispensation of justice in our state and ensure that public confidence is further reinvigorated and restored in the Judiciary.

"It will promote, enhance integrity and transparency in the whole adjudication process, particularly in our criminal justice system", he noted.

Speaking with Newscurve on the passage of the Justice Sector Reform Team Law, the Secretary of the Edo State Justice Sector Reform Team, Omokhodion Imonitie, noted that the JRT is a multi-sector agency platform with the aim of strengthening the justice sector in the state, pointing out that the team was established before the passage of the law and that the law will enhance the operational capacity of the team.

While enumarating some of the achievements of JRT and what the new law is expected to achieve, Imonitie who is also the Programme Officer of the Rule of Law and Anti-corruption (RoLAC) programme of the European Union being implemented by the British Council said: "The Justice Sector Reform Team (JRT) is a multi-sector agency platform that has as its primary aim the entrenchment of reforms in the Justice sector in the state. We realise that the justice sector in Edo State and across the country has a common challenge of for example, slow justice service delivery or even unsatisfactory, quality of justice services delivered across the justice institutions in the state.  

"The justice sector reform team was set up as a collaborative body of all justice institutions in the state like the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Development and Gender Issues, the Police, the Judiciary; so that they can interact from time to time, identify challenges that hamper the justice service delivery in their own sphere and then proffer solutions to those challenges.

"As part of the activities of the JRT even before we had this bill now, this law that has just been passed now by Edo State House of Assembly, JRT has been advocating for some critical initiatives within the justice sector that will enhance the entire sector; for example, there are so many laudable provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law in Edo state; but you find that as good as some of the provisions are, there are some provisions we have not yet fully started implementing. 

"The JRT championed the establishment of the Vivian Centre, JRT advocateed for the centre for a long time even before 2015, but when RoLAC came into Edo around 2018, they now took it up as a project. It was quite a cost effective project, so RoLAC took it up and now we have Vivian Centre and since then the JRT has also been advocating for even the establishment of more centres across the senatorial districts in the state. It is part of this advocacy that led to the Gender Based Violence (GBV) Management committee to even say let us explore setting up Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SAC) in our primary health centres across the state. That is cost effective for the government and makes it closer to the people.

"As part of it's activities, the JRT also supported the development of  information boards for the judiciary. The whole purpose of that was to give court users the opportunity to interface better with the judiciary regarding the quality of services rendered from time to time. That's the essence of that information board. With support from RoLAC, the JRT developed a complaint handling policy for the judiciary. It is a document that was issued by the last Chief Judge that aims to set out rules or codify the processes that the judiciary will take or the steps the judiciary will take in handling complaints on services rendered by staff of the Judiciary", Imonitie said.

While concluding debate on the Bill before it was passed by the House of Assembly, some of the lawmakers  who spoke  on the merits of the law said it seeks to remedy the delay in the justice sector, enhance efficiency and effective delivery of justice, amongst others.

Speaking with Newscurve on how the JRT law will enhance the protection of human rights in the state, a human rights activist and social critic who craved annonimity, said he's not aware of the passage of the Bill into law and cannot make informed comment. He however noted that the state government has a responsibility to carry out public enlightenment on the law if it's serious about implementing it. He therefore called on the Edo State government to carry out public enlightenment on the existence of the law and how it can be deployed in quick dispensation of justice and protection of people's rights.