Bolanle Akanji
Moderator
The Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Ibrahim Bukar, has advised Nigerian magistrates to uphold judiciary ethics so as to reduce individual rights violation.
He gave the advice at the launch of a book, entitled ``The Trial Procedure in Magistrates’ Courts under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC)’’ on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, 80 per cent of criminal cases that pass through magistrates’ courts requires careful study before judgment is given and that clear understanding of such cases would help in reducing the prison congestion.
In his words:"Magistrates need to understand every bail condition they give and should not be in hurry to send people to jail. You have to give judgment according to the magnitude of the offence and dispense judgment when necessary instead of unnecessarily delaying."
The chairman of the occasion, retired Justice Dahiru Musdapher, also said: ``The magistrates’ court is the precursor to the current well-developed system of courts in Nigeria, thus saddled with great responsibility.
Mr Celestine Odo, the author, said the apparent lack of materials in the trial procedure in magistrates’ courts under the criminal procedure, inspired him to write the book.
He discovered during the course of research that magistrates’ courts and other lower courts had no means or system of assessing their performances in the execution of their duties.
He appealed to Supreme and High Court judges to order that copies of judgments be made available to lower courts whose decisions were appealed and also to the Federal Government to increase its budgetary allocation to the judiciary to ensure improvement in the working condition of magistrates, other lower court judges and judiciary employees.
He gave the advice at the launch of a book, entitled ``The Trial Procedure in Magistrates’ Courts under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC)’’ on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, 80 per cent of criminal cases that pass through magistrates’ courts requires careful study before judgment is given and that clear understanding of such cases would help in reducing the prison congestion.
In his words:"Magistrates need to understand every bail condition they give and should not be in hurry to send people to jail. You have to give judgment according to the magnitude of the offence and dispense judgment when necessary instead of unnecessarily delaying."
The chairman of the occasion, retired Justice Dahiru Musdapher, also said: ``The magistrates’ court is the precursor to the current well-developed system of courts in Nigeria, thus saddled with great responsibility.
Mr Celestine Odo, the author, said the apparent lack of materials in the trial procedure in magistrates’ courts under the criminal procedure, inspired him to write the book.
He discovered during the course of research that magistrates’ courts and other lower courts had no means or system of assessing their performances in the execution of their duties.
He appealed to Supreme and High Court judges to order that copies of judgments be made available to lower courts whose decisions were appealed and also to the Federal Government to increase its budgetary allocation to the judiciary to ensure improvement in the working condition of magistrates, other lower court judges and judiciary employees.
