By Linus Aleke
The story of injustice suffered by the poorest of the poor in every clime, particularly in third world countries, where the majority of the population live below the poverty line, cannot be told in a single article or even a book.
But like the Igbo aphorism, “Fear of death does not scare a warrior from going to war,” a reporter or writer doesn’t also abdicate his responsibility of writing because of limited space.
It was, however, on the strength of this and the burning desire to ameliorate or eradicate some encumbrances and yoke, the state had placed on the neck of the poor through legislation and enforcement of the law that a civil society group under the umbrella of “Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre,” brought together critical stakeholders, including sociologists, law enforcement agents, civil society activists, lawyers, the media and relevant government agencies under one roof to brainstorm on the possible remedies to the identified challenges the poor face in Nigeria.
In a communique issued at the end of the National Conference on the Criminal Justice System and the Criminalisation of Poverty in Nigeria, organised by the Rule of Law and Accountability, Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), with the support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), in Abuja, disclosed that the aim of the conference, “was to develop workable recommendations for the reform of the criminal justice system to achieve a functional, practical, and speedy criminal justice system that delivers equal justice and guarantees equal protection for all without discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties.
Held under the chairmanship of Prof Etannibi Alemika of the University of Jos, participants at the conference deliberated and made valuable presentations aimed at reforming the criminal justice sector and the criminalization of poverty in Nigeria.
Terrorism: COAS tasks Christians to complement effort of NA
Professor Chidi Odinkalu delivered the keynote address on the theme, “Criminalization of Poverty in Nigeria: A Synopsis of Origins and Issues”. Odinkalu’s powerful address provided a solid premise for the discussions that followed.
To this end, the communique recommended amongst others that: “The National Assembly needs to put in place legislation that will address the issues affecting the administration of the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
“The National Assembly should promulgate legislation that will end poverty in the country. Education is the biggest means of mobility out of poverty; the government across levels must enable equal access to education by boys and girls.”
The conference further recommended that there was a need to decriminalise petty crimes and offences in Nigeria, urging the National Assembly to put in place measures to checkmate the criminalisation of petty offences.
“Stakeholders in the criminal justice system should work for the reform of the judicial system by re-training its officers to become more efficient and transparent to serve justice to the people. Stakeholders need to push for the decriminalization of politics in Nigeria to institute a transparent system that guarantees the development of the country. Civil Society Organisations need to engage more with lawmakers than with law enforcement because the lawmakers make the laws.
“There is a need to look to other democratic examples other than the American democracy when looking for international examples. Examples of Nordic countries and their methods of policing should be considered.
“Stakeholders in the justice system need to work in ensuring that the inequality in the justice system in Nigeria is addressed; everyone is a victim of the unequalled justice system,” the communique also recommended.”
The conference, however, observed that to redress the criminal justice system, CSOs need to advocate for Nigeria to unbundle the police force.
Amid lingering PDP crisis: Call for Ayu’s firing hots up
It also tasked the media and other social influencers to sell hope despite the state of dystopia; so the people would be encouraged to have hope.
Nevertheless, the communique earlier observed that the various speakers and presentations made some observations about the state of Nigerian society and the responses to poverty.
“Asserting that poverty has been criminalized in Nigeria and poor people are at the receiving end of a corrupt justice system, the participants further observed that: “The worst form of inhumanity is poverty or the impoverishment of the people, and the law has historically criminalized the poor in several ways.
“Poverty has been identified as one of the causes of rising violence in Nigeria. As such, Agenda 2030 affirms the need to ‘build peaceful, just and inclusive societies that provide equal access to justice and that are based on respect for human rights (including the right to development), on effective rule of law and good governance at all levels and transparent, effective and accountable institutions.
“Criminal law is often administered in a discriminatory manner that appears to target the poor for being who they are and, in so doing, creating immiserating and deepening impoverishment. The enforcement of criminal laws is done in a “discriminatory manner and frequently results in arbitrary and unlawful arrests targeting the poor and other marginalised groups.”
Delivering the keynote address with the theme, “Criminalisation of poverty in Nigeria: A synopsis of origins and issues,” Prof Odinkalu posited that in Nigeria, it is a fundamental objective of the state that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
He, however, said that in pursuit of this objective, discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association, or ties should be prohibited.
According to him, “Consistent with this pursuit, the constitution proclaims the social order to be one founded on the trinity of freedom, equality, and justice, and requires that “governmental actions shall be humane.”
Continuing, Odinkalu said, “Despite these high sounding commitments, inequality in Nigeria is the rule, not the exception and few sectors demonstrate this as acutely as the criminal law. For poor people in Nigeria, their encounter with the criminal law, procedure, and institutions can result in violations in three different ways.”
He concluded, “In its shortest provision, Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution exhorts that “governmental actions shall be humane”. A justice system that criminalizes poverty is very much the antithesis of this constitutional ideal.
“Arguably, Nigeria’s justice system has gone beyond criminalizing poverty. Through its inhumaneness, it has become now itself become criminalized and a menace even to it’s rich and comfortable. Across all demographics and communities, therefore, the goal of reforming this system in order to remove its prejudices against poor persons is both urgent and compelling”.
Earlier in his address of welcome, the Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, posited that the criminal justice system in Nigeria is skewed to favour the rich.
He also averred that criminal justice in Nigeria, just like human rights violations, has a social class bias targeting mainly the poor and the most vulnerable in the country.
Nwanguma said the poor constitute the majority of persons awaiting trial, who may never have the chance to appear in court again after the initial arraignment and may be forgotten in the system.
Petty crimes committed by the poor he noted attract more law enforcement action than big crimes committed by the rich.
According to him, “More often, the rich have the means and ways and can hire Senior Advocates or buy their ways through. In the rare cases that the rich get convicted and given options of fine or imprisonment, they can immediately put their hands in their back pockets or the booth of their cars and get out the money needed to pay the fine and go home with their loot. Even the few that got imprisoned after a prolonged period of investigation at great cost to the state for looting their state treasuries are given presidential pardon”.
He further explained, “The notion of criminalisation of poverty manifests more in law enforcement than other sectors, whether it is the police providing security cover for the demolition of settlements inhabited by the poor who are thereby rendered homeless while the settlements from which they have been displaced is apportioned to the rich; or task forces enforcing bans on street hawking or Okada riding, or on the use of pedestrian bridges, etc.
“While it may be justifiable to demolish certain settlements or enforce certain bans- as long as the legal procedures are followed, the poor are often the victims of law enforcement excesses in the course of the enforcement of these state or federal laws or rules and regulations. The poor constitute the majority of those who end up in prison for being unable to pay bribes for bail at police stations”.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, said there is a need to re-evaluate and improve awareness on the impact of the justice system as it relates to petty offences, including applying standards and principles of human rights in protecting the poor and promoting equality and fairness.
She said, “It is worthy of note that criminalization of petty offences, such as prostitution, common nuisance, alms begging, street hawking environmental offences and neighbourhood dispute, by government and law enforcement agencies had continued to reproduce and accentuate poverty among the poor and vulnerable.”
It is, however, hoped that the outcome of this brainstorming of experts, law enforcement agents, media, and policymakers will lessen the yoke of criminalisation of the poor, by decriminalising petty crimes and offences as recommended by the communique
