The Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), a non – governmental organization has expressed concern over the delays in detainees trail in the Nigerian judiciary system.
The Senior Programme Manager, Access to Justice, PPDC, Mr Kenechukwu Agwu expressed the concern in an interview in Abuja.
Agwu also said that the Centre would provide legal services to 1,750 detainees across the five states the projects were implemented.
He listed the states to include, Adamawa, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The project manager said that about 80 per cent of inmate’s population are awaiting trial or are pre-trial detainees.
According to him, these set of people have been in detention for lengthy number of years awaiting trial not even knowing whether they will be found guilty or innocent.
“Recently, for the ‘Access to Justice Programme, this programme is aimed at making sure that Nigerians have equal access to justice, their rights being protected.
“Anybody whose right has been infringed upon can easily get remedy.
“PPDC is a twenty years organisation, and its main goal is to empower the citizens to live the best life they can under the given circumstances in the country.
“Our goal is to empower citizens to be able to actualize their full potential, and in doing that we work towards anything that will uplift the rights of the citizens,” Agwu said.
He said that over the years PPDC had focused on procurements, open governance, digital rights, digital governance and data protection among others, “making sure that there is citizens participation in governance”.
Agwu further said that the Centre would be inaugurating its two Access to Justice projects, – the Court Administration and Case Management, And Reforming Pre-Trial Detention in Nigeria.
Agwu said that the parley aimed at bringing together citizens and stakeholders to discuss the access to justice situation in Nigeria.
He said initiative would promote efficiency in court administration and case management.
“PPDC’s leading initiative in Access to Justice is the CACM project designed to support the development and deployment of improved timely, effective, and transparent Court Administration and Case Management Systems in Nigeria’s judiciary and other related law enforcement and justice institutions.
“Our goal over the next four years is to deploy the Court Administration and Case Management programme to 10 additional states.
“Continue to assess and support efforts to improve the capacity, efficiency, and accountability of the users of Nigeria’s court case management system,” Agwu added.
He said that PPDC would Work closely with key stakeholders to address strategic procedural reform issues in court administration and case management.
