By Marvelous Dibang
The CLEEN Foundation hosted a two-day Policy Dialogue on Gender, Accountability, and Transparency in Implementing the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, in Sokoto State at the Dankani Guest House conference room. The dialogue focused on the actors and government agencies responsible for implementing the provisions of ACJA, 2015, particularly on Gender, Transparency, and Accountability.
Key players in the criminal justice value chain, including the Ministry of Justice, the Correctional Service, the National Human Rights Commission, the Ministry for Women and Children Affairs, the Legal Aid Council, FIDA, the Nigerian Police Force, the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigerian Bar Association, and the ACJL CSOs Observatory Group, attended the dialogue.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Gabriel Akinremi, on behalf of Peter Maduoma, the Acting Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation, emphasized the importance of a shared commitment to advancing justice, equality, and integrity within the Nigerian criminal justice system. He highlighted the significance of gender equality in the criminal justice system and stressed that transparency is essential for democratic governance and justice.
During the two-day stakeholders policy dialogue, participants identified several challenges, including inadequate awareness of laws, inadequate training of law enforcement agencies, lack of collaboration and synergy among stakeholders, gender disparities in the workforce, health conditions, career enhancement, and promotions, the need to make the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee more functional, inadequate budgetary provisions, and insufficient monitoring and evaluation of critical stakeholders.
To address these challenges, stakeholders presented eight recommendations, including reviewing the Sokoto State ACJL, ensuring effective implementation of existing laws, policies and regulations, working with all MDAs to ensure a more gender-responsive budget, advocating for timely disbursement of funds to support gender-responsive initiatives, strengthening the capacity of relevant stakeholders, improving systems for collecting, monitoring and reporting data related to gender equality and women’s empowerment, engaging in advocacy for the sustainability of gender equality initiatives, and developing an implementation strategy on gender justice and responsive initiatives.
The participants concluded that implementing these recommendations through applicable regulations will enhance Sokoto State’s inclusion and gender responsiveness.
