CLEEN Tasks FG, Judicial Agencies to Digitize Criminal Justice System

The federal government and other judicial agencies have been
tasked on the need to digitize the criminal justice system to
create more accessibility to judgments on corruption-related cases
in the country.

The Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Dr. Benson Olugbuo,
who made the request, said there is need for Nigerians to have
access through Internet modes to judgments being dispensed on
corruption cases to stem the tide of the scourge.

Olugbuo, who spoke in Ado Ekiti on Monday during a workshop on
‘Trandparency and Accountability in the Administration Criminal
Justice System(ACJA)’, said it has established resource centres in
eight states of the federation where citizens could have access to
cases that have connections with grafts and allied matters.

Olugbuo, represented by the Executive Director in charge of
Legal, Mrs Esther Mabadeje, said creating such an ICT platform
would be good for research in the legal profession and also expose
efforts being made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies to tackle pilfering of public
funds.

The programme was organised in partnership with Gender Relevance
Initiative Promotion (GRIP).

Olugbuo said the digitization efforts will help in the quick
dispensation of justice on corruption-related cases.

“The idea of the resource centres was conceived under the
project centred on Promoting Accountability and Transparency in the
Administration of Criminal Justice System in Nigeria.

“The project is targeted at the digitization of court
proceedings/judgments in Nigeria with a view to promoting
accountability and transparency in the fight against
corruption.

“The project principally seeks to monitor cases of corruption in
relation to ACJA 2015 through a web based open source application
called Uwazi https://cleen.uwazi.io/en/ with functionality that
includes search, filter, tracking of changes on documents, cross
reference and ability to view or download court rulings within the
reach of the public,” he said.

Olugbuo added that the concept of digitization of court cases is
not new, saying electronic legal documentation has been firmly
established and stable in Austria since 1999 and in the United
States.

“If we must have an efficient criminal justice system that is
poised to ensure the diligent prosecution of all cases of
corruption, the critical mass of men and women on the criminal
justice chain all along the line from top to bottom must be men who
are manifestly willing to birth the dreams encapsulated in the
innovative aspects of the ACJA, 2015. To achieve this dream, the
tool of technology must be employed to monitor the successes as
well as the gaps in the implementation of the laws,” he stated.

Speaking at the forum, the GRIP Executive Director, Mrs Rita
Ilevbare, said the resource centre in Ekiti State will ensure that
every interested Nigeria has access to documents on corruption
cases.

EFCC Nabs Suspects for Illegal Broadcast of DSTV
Signal

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Uyo Zonal office
on Monday October 14, 2019 arrested two staffs of Communication
Trend Limited, Prisca Isaac, Sales Representative and Nwosu
Precious, Technician at 111 Atiku Abubakar Avenue, Uyo, Akwa Ibom
State for alleged illegal transmission of broadcast signals of
Multichoice (DSTV) to Uyo and environs without authorisation.

The company allegedly charges Three Thousand Five Hundred Naira
(N3, 500.00) and Seven Thousand Five Hundred Naira (N7, 500.00)
monthly as subscription fees to its customers using DSTV and other
decoders without permission.

The arrest followed a petition alleging breach of Multichoice’s
English Premiership broadcast rights.

During the arrest, the following items were recovered: 2 DSTV
Decoders, 1 GOTV Decoder, 28 Well-AV encoders, 3 Transmitters mode
ADC Telecommunications, 3 Modulators, 2 UBS DTX 1008 Transmitters,
2 Startimes Decoders, 1 Omovo TV Decoder, 1Trendy TV Decoder, 1 CTL
N7, 500 Subscription Recharge Cards, 1 CTL N3, 500 Subscription
Recharge Card, Tiger T1000 Decoder and 1 Starsat Decoder.

The suspects will be charged to court when investigation is
concluded.

Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity