Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has condemned the persistent violations of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) by law enforcement agencies and other actors within the criminal justice system. He said judges, prosecutors and investigators who breach the provisions of ACJA must face clear and enforceable sanctions.
Falana stated this while presenting a paper titled “A Decade of the ACJA: Charting the Course of Criminal Justice Reform in Nigeria” at a public lecture organised by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the ACJA 2015.
He noted that the next phase of reform must integrate human rights and social justice, adding that equality before the law would remain a fiction, if poor Nigerians continued to face barriers in accessing justice. Falana stressed that legal aid must be constitutionally guaranteed and adequately funded to ensure meaningful access to justice.
He also urged that the implementation of the ACJA be aligned with Chapter II of the Constitution, which deals with citizens’ welfare, education, and social justice. He noted that Nigeria’s criminal justice system disproportionately targets the poor, explaining that most offences leading to imprisonment are povertyrelated, such as petty theft, street trading, minor property crimes, and failure to pay fines.
He further stated that the ACJA serves as a key instrument for making justice accessible to all, describing it as more than just a procedural reform, but a vehicle for social justice. He emphasised that every society is ultimately judged by how it treats its poor, weak and vulnerable citizens rather than the powerful.
He however warned that corruption, inequality and abuse of judicial discretion continue to undermine access to justice in Nigeria. According to him, despite the progressive safeguards contained in the ACJA, vulnerable citizens remain victims of oppressive remand practices.
Citing the case of Commissioner of Police v. Chinedu Agu, Falana illustrated how a magistrate in Owerri ordered the remand of a defendant for 40 days despite the police having granted him administrative bail. He said the remand order was unlawful under Sections 293 to 295 of ACJA, which limit remand to 14 days in the first instance and require probable cause before detention.
He explained that the magistrate’s decision amounted to an unconstitutional holding charge, contrary to established legal precedents in Enwere v. Commissioner of Police and Ebute v. State. Falana called for the creation of a Justice Sector Development Fund backed by legislation to finance court infrastructure, prosecution, legal aid, and digital justice systems.
He suggested that public-private partnerships should be encouraged to modernise courtrooms and expand forensic and ICT capacity. He also observed a clear disparity in the justice system, noting that economic crimes involving large-scale corruption or financial fraud rarely result in meaningful convictions, while poor citizens are easily jailed for minor offences.
He said this disparity reflects a class bias in enforcement and shows that justice in Nigeria often depends on wealth and connections rather than constitutional guarantees. Falana stated that access to justice is a constitutional obligation tied to citizens’ welfare. Although socio-economic rights under Chapter II remain non-justiciable, he said the ACJA provides a legislative pathway for enforcing those rights.
He however proposed three key strategies for linking the ACJA to social justice: first, treating access to justice as a legally enforceable right supported by public funding for legal aid under Section 36(6)(c) of the Constitution; second, prioritising non-custodial sentencing under Sections 401 to 404 of the ACJA to prevent the criminalisation of poverty; and third, aligning criminal justice reform with national social welfare policies to prevent pre-trial detention and unfair prosecutions from perpetuating structural poverty.
Ten years after its enactment, Falana said, the ACJA represents more than statutory reform. It restored faith in the possibility of justice in Nigeria and redirected criminal procedure from technical obstruction toward substantive justice, from impunity toward accountability, and from punitive excess toward restorative fairness.
