The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi and the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Justice Babatunde Adejumo, have advocate the enhanced deployment of non-custodial sentencing measures as a way of addressing congestion in prisons.
They noted that current reality dictates that it is no longer practicable for judges and magistrates to see custodial sentencing as the only option when determining criminal cases.
The CJN, AGF and Justice Adejumo spoke in Abuja on Friday at a ‘Roundtable on enhanced collaboration on alternatives to custody: Practical strategies for reducing prison congestion – an interactive collaboration between the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice and the justice sector in Nigeria,’ hosted by the NJI.
Justice Kekere-Ekun noted that while the power to deprive a person of his liberty remains one of the most profound responsibilities entrusted to judges, incarceration must not be viewed as the default response in all circumstances.
She states that the evolving realities of modern justice administration require the adoption of more balanced, proportionate, and forward-looking approaches to sentencing.
