A group demands that criminal justice regulations be strictly enforced.

Concerned about the allegedly rising number of prisoners awaiting trial, an advocacy group called Zarephath Aid has urged the government to implement the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) to speed up the administration of justice and end the cruel and unlawful practice of holding charges.

The organization said that the practice of “holding charges” in the criminal justice system is a factor in the overcrowding of the nation’s correctional facilities.

The founder of Zarephath Aid, Mr. Ben Abraham, said in a news interview in Lagos that it is abhorrent for a prisoner to spend 10 years or more in a detention facility on holding charges while awaiting trial in 21st-century Nigeria.

He also said that the police had lost the case files for the majority of the people who were detained pending trial, leaving the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) office without any information with which to provide legal counsel.

A holding charge is a procedure where a magistrate remands criminal suspects awaiting the DPP’s recommendation after hearing a case that cannot be prosecuted in court.

Abraham said that the government urgently needs a comprehensive overhaul and noted that the organization has worked in the criminal justice and corrections sectors for more than 17 years.

According to him, there are now more than 70,000 prisoners in Nigeria despite the detention facilities having a capacity of just roughly 58,000.

“The procedure of remand by the Magistrate Court upon application by the police in offenses that cannot be tried by the magistrate is provided for in Section 264 to 266 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Lagos State 2015 as amended.

“However, in practice, the legal check that section tries to implement is not realized since, after the remand, the remanding magistrate’s responsibility, as described in Section 264(6), (7), and(8), is not carried out.

He said, “The police arrest suspects for crimes and offences triable by information, hastily remand them, and throw their files someplace, while these individuals, considered innocent in the eyes of the law, languish for years on end.

The group leader added observed that despite the practice of holding charges being declared illegal by appellate courts in several instances over the years, it has continued.

“Remanding a suspect on a charge to a magistrate court does not comport with fairness or law; the court has no authority to try the case from scratch,” he said.