Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has charged the newly inaugurated Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to quickly embark on what he termed as pressing tasks, listing them to include, among others, major reforms of the nation’s criminal justice system and the unbundling of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The former NBA president also urged the newly sworn-in Attorney-General to ensure a complete decentralisation of the police force at Local, state, and Federal levels, saying that he should equally consider major constitutional amendments to create a system of Federal and State courts, saying that now is a better time “to hack down the highly centralised Court systems in Nigeria.”
Agbakoba made the call in a release titled “Urgent Tasks for the Attorney-General of the Federation, a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Lagos on Monday, saying that there was an urgent need for major reforms of the criminal justice system with particular reference to what he viewed as the utter confusion in the duplicated work of the country’s law enforcement agencies, with particular reference to the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practises Commission (ICPC).
According to the legal luminary, there is a need to unbundle the EFCC and restrict the Anti-corruption agency to investigation only, saying that a new National Prosecution Agency ought to be established to carry out such a task.
Agbakoba, while tasking the new AGF on the need for a completely decentralised Police Force at Local, state, and Federal levels, added that a major revamp of the nation’s “outdated laws is urgently needed to follow the Rwanda example that modified 1000 laws.”
This was just as the former NBA boss further urged Fagbemi to work on speedy delivery of justice and also create dispute resolution Agencies to free up what he termed “the utterly cluttered dockets of the regular courts,” noting sadly that it was shameful that cases from the High Court to the Supreme Court “take upwards of 15 years to conclude.”
“There are pressing tasks to be carried out urgently by the new Attorney-General of the Federation. Major reforms of the criminal justice system, with particular reference to the utter confusion in the duplicated work of our law enforcement agencies, in particular the EFCC and ICPC, are urgently needed.
Also, there is a need to unbundle the EFCC and restrict them to investigation only, while a new National Prosecution Agency ought to be established.
“Another key reform would be a completely decentralised Police Force at Local, state, and Federal levels.
A major revamp of our outdated laws is urgently needed to follow the Rwanda example that modified 1000 laws,” he said.
“Last but not least, the AGF must work on Speed of Justice. It’s a crying shame that it takes upwards of 15 years to conclude cases from the High Court to the Supreme Court,” he lamented.
Speaking further, Agbakoba enjoined the newly sworn-in Attorney-General to consider major constitutional amendments to create a system of Federal and State Courts, positing that State Courts ought to have exclusive jurisdiction over matters related to them.
He said this should also be the case for Federal courts, whose jurisdiction must be limited to Federal causes, adding: “This will free up the clutter at the Supreme Court and make it the Policy Court it ought to be in the first place.”
Agbakoba, however, expressed confidence in the abilities of Fagbemi to deliver on the tasks, saying he was convinced those tasks were simple for him to accomplish.
“We have a Brilliant AGF in Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
I am convinced those will be simple tasks for him. He is a very good colleague, and I have the highest confidence in his abilities,” he said.
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