THE President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) has said that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) is an important legislation that needs the inputs of all critical stakeholders.
In a press statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, Mahmoud, who was represented by the NBA 1st Vice President, Caleb Dajan, at a state Legislative Advocacy and Sensitization Workshop on the implementation of ACJA, 2015 in Bauchi state, also inaugurated the nine-member state committee to build partnership and work in collaboration with key stakeholders working in the area of domesticating and implementing the ACJA 2015, in Bauchi state.
”ACJA is an important legislation that needs the inputs of all critical stakeholders in the state. I encourage the committee to build partnership and work in collaboration with key stakeholders working in the area of domesticating and implementing the ACJA 2015, in Bauchi state”, he said.
Also speaking at the occasion, the Project Coordinator of the NBA-MacArthur ACJA Project; Muritala Abdul-Rasheed said the NBA seeks to ensure that the innovations introduced in the ACJA are uniformly and independently adopted by all States of the Federation subject to local peculiarities.
He said the purpose of the sensitization workshop with stakeholders in Bauchi state was to assemble key stakeholders, ACJA practitioners and members of the bar to galvanise support for the immediate passage of the bill by the State House of Assembly and transmit same to the Executive Governor for assent.
The NBA boss noted that the project team shall hold a similar workshop in eight other states of Adamawa, Edo, Jigawa, Kano, Kogi and Ogun within the next two months.
He called on the support and cooperation of all participants and partners in implementing the outcomes of the sensitization workshop without any delays.
The Solicitor General of Bauchi State, who represented His Excellency, M. A. Abubakar the Executive Governor of Bauchi State, noted that the state has already started taking steps to have the ACJA of Bauchi state.
He declared the workshop open on behalf of the Executive Governor.
In his Welcome address, the Chairman of the NBA Bauchi state branch, M. M. Maidoki, welcomed participants to the workshop while appreciating the efforts of the NBA President; MacArthur Foundation and the Project team for deeming it fit to come to Bauchi to hold the sensitization workshop.
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