The CLEEN Foundation conducts a training of trainers workshop for police officers in Nigeria
A two-day train-the-trainer workshop for officers from the Nigerian police force was held yesterday in Abuja, the federal capital of Nigeria.
Benson Olugbuo, PhD, Executive Director of the CLEEN Foundation, in a statement of purpose, said that the training focused on the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015, where police officers from all 28 states of the federation participated.
According to him, “the police, as guardians of the criminal justice system, require continuous training and retraining to effectively fulfill their constitutional mandate to maintain law and order and protect lives and property in a professional manner and within the limits of the laws. “.
He mentioned some of the states from which the police came, such as: Lagos, Anambra, Ekiti, Enugu, Rivers, Delta, Kaduna, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo and Kogi, Ogun, Plateau, Bayelsa, Edo, Benue, Adamawa, Jigawa, Nassarawa, Bauchi, Kano, Yobe, Kwara and Osun.
The director also explained that the workshop organized by the Foundation comes at a crucial time in our country in view of the escalation in crime rates.
The multiplicity of complaints about human rights violations, complaints of non-compliance with the laws by law enforcement agents and the need for an expeditious processing of criminal cases in the country.
ACJA 2015, as we know, has brought fundamental reforms to our criminal justice system.
The law was designed not only to preserve and strengthen existing legal frameworks, but also to improve the efficiency of institutions within the criminal justice system and the protection of the human rights of citizens: suspects, defendants and victims.
The legislative purpose of the ACJA, 2015 is to have an application at the national level, therefore, to introduce a national criminal procedure law that will regulate the investigation and prosecution of crimes throughout the federation.
The Act, being an Act of the National Assembly, only applies to the Federal Capital Territory and federal courts and other federal institutions, including the Nigeria Police; however, many states are beginning to adopt the Act.
His words: “The findings of the public perception surveys, CLEEN conducted in 2017 and 2018 respectively to monitor the Criminal Justice Administration Reform Process indicate a low level of awareness among criminal justice institutions, including the police, and with the increase in the number of states that adopt the law, it is convenient to ensure an adequate knowledge about the provisions of the law and its applicability in the criminal process”.
It is in this context and in compliance with our commitment to support the efforts of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to improve police professionalism and service delivery, that the CLEEN Foundation is implementing a series of training programs for police officers in across the country, starting with this Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop to enhance the knowledge and capacity of the officers and men of the Nigerian Police Force at the ACJA 2015 in order to deepen their understanding of the dynamics and nuances involved in law enforcement.
This training workshop will draw on the experiences of senior police officers in the field, discuss the role that law enforcement and security officers, such as the police, are expected to play in promoting the implementation of the ACJA , the associated challenges they face and the provision of mitigating measures. strategize
It is hoped that at the end of the training, trained personnel will be better equipped and positioned to handle criminal cases from an informed and enlightened perspective of the law.