There will be speedy resolution of criminal cases in order to ensure an effective justice system in Lagos State.
The assurance was given on Tuesday by the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Opeyemi Oke.
She gave the assurance during the presentation of the ACJL Practice Direction and Restorative Justice Practice Direction.
She said the situation whereby those who commit minor offences are locked up in prison for the least reason would be reversed.
According to her, that would also help reduce the population of inmates in the prisons.
Her words: “Today in Nigeria we have seen countless cases where defendants are arrested for minor offences such as burglary and wandering; they are locked up in our prisons for the flimsiest reasons to join the teeming population awaiting trial inmates.
“In fact, the awaiting trial inmates account for more than 75 per cent of the inmates in our prisons today.
“They are in our prisons with hardened criminals and by the time they come out they have been initiated into a life of crime and are ready to spread terror, death, and destruction in their post-prison escapades.”
She stated further: “Lagos State has been at the vanguard in terms of criminal justice reform when it passed the ACJL in 2007, amended it in 2011. Other states followed suit, adopted and improved upon it.
“Now, Lagos State is going further with these new practice directions to realise the goal of expedited trials, improvement in the case disposal rates and hopefully, this will culminate in the decongestion of our prisons.”
