The Borno State House of Assembly has reached an advanced stage to amend two Bills to check Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of security challenges in the area, Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Abdullahi Musa Askira, said on Thursday.
The two bills to be upgraded are ‘Administration of criminal justice and other matters connected Therewith Bill’ and ‘Borno State penal code re-enactment Bill and other matters connected Therewith Bill, 2022.’
The PUNCH reported that so far, Borno is one of the remaining five states trying to domesticated the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, as 31 states have so far domesticated it.
Askira said with the two Bills, emerging criminal activities such as cattle rustling amongst other criminalities which were not initially captured in the state penal code would be a thing of the past.
The Deputy Speaker stated these in Abuja, during a two-day retreat organised for the state legislators with the support of the European Union and British Council.
He said the penal code law which was last reviewed in 1994 would amend the criminal procedure code as it would introduce innovative provisions that could enhance the efficiency of the justice delivery system.
Askira said, “Both bills seek to promote efficient management of criminal justice institutions, speedy dispensation of justice, protection of the society from crime among other sundry issues that were hitherto not captured in our penal code laws.
“These two Bills are timely and will not come at a better time when our state and country at large are bedevilled with all kinds of emerging criminal activities such as cattle rustling which were not hitherto captured in our penal code law that was last reviewed in 1994.
“The ‘Administration of criminal justice and other matters connected Therewith Bill, 2022’ on the other hand, is an upgrade to our criminal procedure code in that it introduces innovative provisions that could enhance the efficiency of the justice system.”
The chairman, Borno State Justice Sector Reform Team, Justice Haruna Yusuf Mshelia, said the upgraded Bills would birth the reform needed to reposition the state to face post-insurgency challenges.
He said, “Borno State is one of the states, if not the only state in Nigeria that is not having congestion in all its correctional facilities. The number of convicted prisoners in our correctional facilities far outweighs the number of awaiting trial inmates which account for the congestions in other States.
“Notwithstanding the above, reform is needed to reposition the state to face post insurgency challenges and cope with dynamism of modern society with its emerging new trends of crime and conflicts.”
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