The Effective Administration of Criminal Justice

8/8/2019 The Effective Administration of Criminal Justice

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RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIE S No. 56

* O ffi ce r -i n -C ha r ge , M anagem en t I n f or m a r i on

Systems, In terpol Section Criminal Invest igation

Department, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria.

THE EF FE CTIVE ADMINIS TRATION OF CRIMINAL J US TICE

FOR THE P REVENTION OF CORRUP T ACTIVITIES BY

PUBLIC OFFICIALS: THE NIGERIAN POSITION

Onuoha Em m anuel Ifeanyi*

I. THE PH ENOMENON OF

CORRUPTION

In a w or l d w he re m an s w an t s a r e

insatiable an d th e resources limited, it is

not un comm on for individuals an d inter est

groups to compete for th e contr ol of th ese

resources as a mean s of sat isfying th eir

needs . This exercise becomes corr upt if th e

competit iors employ foul mea ns t o achieve

th eir objective.

In N igeria, we ar e genuinely worr ied

about corr upt ion wh ich, though a un iversa l

phenomenon, seems to have become so

endemic in our body pol i t ic that most

discourse about Nigeria, at home and in

internat ional fora , centers on the highascendancy of corrup tion in our public life.

According to the Communique on the

1988 National Conference on Corruption

an d other E conomic Crimes in Nigeria,

corrupt act ivi t ies are not the exclusive

preserve of a part icular sect ion of the

society, but rather an ill-doing that cuts

across all social barr iers and str ata . It is

not only th e politician s an d th e execut ives

th at ar e corr upt in our society, but th ebureau cra t s , publ ic se rvant s , bankers ,

insurance brokers, officials involved with

the administra tion of just ice in the coun tr y,

l aw en forcem en t agenc ie s , t he p re s s ,

religious leader s an d oth er mem bers of th e

public.

Olusegun Obasa njo apt ly captu red th e

scena rio in a speech h e made on t he da y of

h i s i n a u g u r a t i on a s P r e s id e n t o f t h e

Feder al Repu blic on Nigeria on 29 Ma y,

1999; an excerpt of which is repr oduced

hereunder:

Corrup tion, th e greatest single bane

of our society today, w ill be ta ckled

head-on. . . No society can achieve

anyth ing near its full potential if it

allows corrup tion to become th e full-

b l o w n c a n c er i t h a s b e co m e i n

N igeria.

II. REASONS FOR CORRUP TION

In var ious l i t e ra ture , cor rup t ion inNigeria h as been alluded to as an improper

developmen t str at egy resulting in politico-

economic an d adm inistr at ive in efficiency

which, in turn, leads to inadequacy or

scarcity of goods an d services. Thu s, the

acquisi t ion of such goods and services

becomes a special privilege, rat her th an a

normal entitlement.

Adedoku n Adeyemi, in a paper ent itled

Corr upt ion in Nigeria: The Cr iminologicalPe rs pect ive, link ed cor r up tion t o th e

upbr inging an d socialization process. He

opined th at in a society whose tra ditions

permit polygamy, children of polygamous

homes do no t en joy adequat e pa te r na l

cont act r esulting in emotiona l insecur ity

an d s ta bi l ity. The combined effect of

scarci ty of goods and services tends to

produce in such children exaggerat ed fear

for the morrow. The result is that t hey

develop a s t r ong pr opensi ty t o acqui re


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wealth t o sat isfy their exaggerated fears.

Fu rt her r easons adduced for t he growth

of th is nat iona l can ker-worm include m ass

illitera cy, genera l povert y and frus tr at ion,

conflict of values, weakness of social and

governmental enforcement mechanisms,

tr ibal sent iments and nepotism. So also

ar e th e a cquisitive pr opensity of a society

wher e people are judged an d accepted by

what th ey have and not that t hey are, the

use of political office as t he pr imary mean s

of acquiring wealt h, lack of patr iotism an d

general disregard for t he laws of th e land.

Obviously, corruption on the part of

political office-holder s, bur eau cra ts , public

servants, the press a nd t he general public

ha s t en ded to s t igma t i ze the image of

governm ent , weak en i ts credibi li ty an d

redu ce the effectiveness of the developmen t

progra ms a nd policies and also, to a grea t

extent , weak en t he economy of th e na tion.

III. EXISTING MEASUR ES AND

MECHANISMS FOR CON TROL OFCORRUPTION

The existing mea su res for t he cont rol of

official corr upt ion in N igeria in clude:

(i) The criminal/penal codes, the p olice

an d other enforcement a gencies, and

t h e c o u r t s a r e t h e f o r m a l

c o n v e n t i o n a l i n s t r u m e n t s f o r

cont rolling corr upt ion.

(ii)Anoth er set of existing mea sur es an d

m e c h a n i s m s f or c on t r o l l i n g

corr upt ion ma y be cat egorized as

ta r get -di r ected effort s. Th ese

include th e defun ct Corr upt Pr actices

Inves t iga t ion Bureau , the Publ i c

Complaints Commission, and the

Code of Condu ct Bu rea u.

(iii)I n t h e p a s t a l s o , j u d i c i a l /

administrative tribunals of inquiry

w e r e s e t u p f or i n s t a n c e s of

discovered or r evealed lar ge-scale

corr upt ion, especially th ose involving

high-ranking government officials.

(iv) A t o t h e r t i m e s e d u c a t i o n a l

inst i tut ions, re l igious bodies and

tra ditional rulers, and hum an rights

g r o u p s h a v e j o i n e d t h e c o m b a t

against corr upt ion.

IV. CRIMINAL LAW P ROVIS IONS

AGAINST CORRUPTION

A. Off ic ia l Corrupt ion

Sect ion 98 of the Criminal Code of Nigeria provides:

Any person who:

(a) being employed in t he public service,

a n d b e in g c h a r g e d w i t h t h e

performa nce of an y dut y by virtu e of

such employment , not being a du ty

touching on t he a dminist ra t ion of

justice, corruptly asks, receives, or

obtains , an y property or ben efi t of

an y kind for h imself or for an y oth er

pers on on a ccoun t of an yth ing done

or omitt ed to be done, by him in t he

discharge of his office; or

(b) cor ru pt ly gives, confer s, procures or

pr omises, or offers t o give or confer,

or to procur e or at tempt to procur e,

to, upon or for, an y person employed

in t he pu blic ser vice, or t o up on, orfor a ny oth er per son, any property or

benefit, of any k ind on a ccount of an y

such act or ommission on th e par t of

th e per son so employed is guilty of a

felony, an d is liable t o imprisonmen t

for seven years.

B. Extort ion by Publ ic Off icers

S e c t i o n 9 9 o f t h e C r i m i n a l C o d e

provides:


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Any per son wh o, being em ployed in

th e pu blic service, tak es or a ccepts

from a ny per son, for th e perform an ce

of his du ty a s su ch officer, any r ewar d

b e y o n d h i s p r o p e r p a y a n d

emolum ent s, or an y promise of such

reward, is guilty of a felony, and is

l i ab le to impr i sonment for th ree

years.

C. J u d ic ia l Co rr u pt io n

Sec t i on 114 o f t he C r i m i na l C ode

provides:

Any person who:

(a) being a judicial officer, corru ptly asks,

rece ives or ob ta ins , o r a grees or

at tempts to receive or obtain any

property or benefit of any kind for

h i m s e l f o r a n y o t h e r p e r s o n o n

accoun t of an y thin g alrea dy done or

omit ted to be done, by him in his

jud icial capa city; or

(b) corr up tly gives, confers, procur es orpr omises, or offers to give or confer,

or to procur e or at tempt to procur e,

to, upon or for a ny judicial officer, or

to, upon or for an y oth er per son, an y

propert y or benefit of any kin d on

account of such judicial officer, is

guil ty of a felony and is l iable to

imprisonm ent for four teen year s.

T he o ffende r can no t be a r r e s t ed

w it h o u t a w a r r a n t . T h e t e r mjud icial officer in t h is se ct ion

i n c l u d e s a m e m b e r o f a n a t i v e

tribunal, an a rbitrator or u mpire, and

a n y p e r s o n a p p o i n t e d t o a c t a s

c o m m i s s i o n e r u n d e r t h e

Comm issions of Inqu iry Ordina nce,

or before whom (un der t he pr ovisions

of any Ordinance) proceedings are

t aken in which ev idence may be

ta ken on oath; but in t he case of an

offence commit ted by or with respect

to an y such judicial officer, the longest

ter m of imprisonmen t is seven year s.

A prosecut ion for any of the offences

firstly defined in this section cannot

be begun except by th e direction of a

law officer .

Sections 151 - 121 of the Penal Code

applicable in the north ern sta tes of Nigeria

made similar provisions on corruption.

Pa rt of rule 8 of th e ten specific rules or

prohibitions pr ovided for pa st and pr esent

public officers a nd t heir a gents by the Code

of Condu ct Burea u pr ovidesinter alia

:

No per son sha ll offer a pu blic officer

an y propert y, gift or benefit of an y

kind as an inducement or bribe for

th e gran ting of any favour or for t he

discha rge in h is favour of the pu blic

officer s du t ies .

The Consti tut ion cha rges t he Code of

Condu ct Burea u with th e responsibility of

referring cases of breach of the Code ofConduct t o th e Code of Conduct Tribun al,

which is to be appointed in accordan ce with

the recommenda tion of the Federa l J udicial

Commission.

The Public Complaints Commission is

an adm inistra tive body cha rged with t he

resp ons ibil i ty of invest igat ing a buse of

adm inistr at ive power, and it is recognized

as existin g in law u nder section 274(5) of

th e 1979 Const itut ion. Its ma in fun ctions,specified in section 4(2), provides that a

commissioner sha ll investigate either on

th eir own init iat ive or following compla int s

lodged before him/her by any oth er person,

an y administra tive action tak en by federal

and state ministries, local governments,

s t a t u t o ry co rpo ra t i ons o r com pan i e s

incorpora ted pur suan t to the Companies

Decree 1968, or other public institutions

includ ing th e office or serva nt s of th ese

bodies.


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PARTICIPANTS PAPERS

Year Total Number of Number of Cases of Percentage of

Cases Known to Official Corruption Official Corruption

Police to Total Number

of Cases (%)

1987 280,879 424 0.15

1988 320,411 329 0.1

1989 309,771 268 0.09

1990 285,859 297 0.10

1991 253,741 314 0.12

1992 271,614 136 0.05

1993 295,878 139 0.05

1994 247,038 224 0.09

1995 241,916 390 0.16

1996 240,354 579 0.24

TABLE 1

Extract from Sum mary of Crime and Offence F igure s 1987-1998

V. DATA RE GARD ING THE

DISCOVERY OF CORRU PT

ACTIVITIES B Y P OLICE RECORDS

Available crime sta tist ics over a ten -year

per iod (1987-1996) show th at th e incidence

of official corruption is insignificant in

relation to the national crime level (see

Table 1). This is at variance with the public

opinion on the subject , as manifest in

newspaper r eport s an d th e daily experience

of the ordin ar y citizen in society. Some of

the reasons adduced for the low rate of

r e p o r t e d c a s e s i n c l u d e s t h e l a c k o f

c o n f i d e n c e i n t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f crimina l jus tice, th e fear of prosecut ion

(since a victim is equal to an offender in

term s of rights, as r equired by law) and

lack of a c l ear un ders t an ding of wha t

constit ut es official corr up tion.

VI. P ROB LEMS MITIGATING

ACTION AGAINS T CORRU P TION

A. At th e In v e s t ig a t io n Le v e l

T h e f o l l o w i n g f a c t o r s c o n s t i t u t eu n n e c e s s a r y o b s t a c l e s t o e f f i c i e n t

invest igation of cases of corr up t a ctivities

in Nigeria:

(i) The Official Secret s Act often sta ndsbe tween th e inves t iga tor an d th e

i n f o r m a t i o n n e c e s s a r y f o r t h e

prosecut ion of a case of o f f i c i a l

corruption.

( i i )T he agenc i e s cha rged w i t h t he

invest igat ion of corrupt act ivi t ies

often lack the required manpower

an d fina ncial resources necessar y to

effectively monitor the phenomenon

or perform th eir job.

(iii)Sometimes members of the security

agencies do not h ave th e requiste

tra ining and equipment to perform

effectively.

(iv) L o w m o r a l e a m o n g s o m e

enforcement agencies arising from

poor sa lary stru ctur e, harsh working

conditions, inadequate facilities andl a ck o f a d e q u a t e r e s i d e n t i a l

Source: The Nigeria Police Abstr acts of Crim es and Offences St at istics


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accommodation.

(v)Corrupt ion i s an of fence of low

reportability. Factors responsible for

t h i s r a n g e fr o m t h e f e a r o f

prosecut ion a rising from th e fact th at

both th e offender an d v ict im a re

criminally liable, t o lack of confidence

in th e system of adm inistra t ion of

criminal justice.

(vi)Th e law on t he su bject of corr upt ion

is far from clear. Becau se nei ther

corru pt ion nor corrup tlyis defined

i n t h e C r i m i n a l C od e , t h e i rinterpreta t ion h as been left t o the

wisdom of jud icial officer s. Also, the

e m p h a s i s o f t h e p r o v i s i o n i s

exclusively on publ ic or judicial

officia ls a n d on ly for br iber y a nd

extort ion. Fu rt her more, th ere ar e

no p rov i s i ons m ak i ng co rpo ra t e

bodies crim ina lly liable.

B . P r o ble ms a t th e Tr ia l Le v e l

(i) During the recent militar y regimes,i n d e p e n d e n c e o f t h e j u d i c i a r y

suffered setbacks such a s ar bitra ry

removal of judges from office, the

p r o m u l g a t i o n o f d e c r e e s w i t h

provisions oust ing th e jur isdiction of

th e cour ts on t he su bject.

(ii)Du e to ina dequacy in t he n um ber of

judges/magistrates, the courts are

of t en conges ted thereby caus ing

delays in t he disposal of cases.

(iii)In th e past, t her e was lack of will on

th e par t of government to review laws

relat ing to corr upt ion to mak e them

compr ehen sive an d effective.

(iv) There is a provision in our crimina l

l aw tha t empowers the At torney-

General t o discont inue a ny case at

a n y p o i n t b e f o r e j u d g e m e n t i s

delivered, in th e pu blic int eres t.

There is no doubt t hat the sa id law is

subject to misuse, especial ly by a

corr upt regime.

( v ) M o s t c o u r t s s t i l l u s e m a n u a l

r e c o r d i n g s y s t e m s w h i c h a r e

s t r e n u o u s a n d t i m e - c o n s u m i n g .

Ther e is a gener al lack of kn ow-how

in th e ar ea of inform at ion s ystems

management.

VII. STRATEGY TO P REVEN T THE

CORRUP T ACTIVITIES OF PU BLIC

OFFICIALS

The following str at egy is recommen dedfor th e cont rol of official corrupt ion :

(i) C or r u p t ion s h ou ld b e a t t a ck e d

simultan eously in both the public an d

pr ivat e sectors of society.

(ii) It is importan t to delineate the ambit

of th e offence. As mu ch as possible,

t h e d e f in i t i o n s h o u l d n o t b e

amorphous.

(iii) T he re i s t he need t o es t a b l ish a

N a t i on a l C or r u p t i on C on t r o l

Comm ission a s th e various a gencies

cur rent ly handling issues r egar ding

official corr upt ion ha ve too much t o

do, with too litt le resour ces.

Already, th e P resident of Nigeria ha s

presen ted a bill to the Na tiona l Assembly

which, if pa ssed in to law, will addr ess t hei ssues ra i sed in the recommendat ions

above.

VIII. INTERNATIONAL

COOPER ATION IN CORRUP TION

CASES

There a re pr oblems a ssociated with t he

provisions r elating to corr upt ion u nder th e

domestic jurisdiction when it a ssum es an

intern at iona l cha ra cter, becau se hithert o

the Const itut ion of Nigeria does not permit


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trial of an accused in absent ia . I n t he

circumst an ces, the investigators can only

rely on rules of internat ional cr iminal

procedur e if th ere is a ny existing legislat ion

or tr eaty in th at sphere.

The pr ocedu res of extr ad ition, judicial

assistance, recognition of foreign panel

judgements in domestic cour ts, an d th e

t ransfer of offenders and execut ion of

sent ences of foreign cour ts with in domestic

jurisdiction, ar e long an d pains ta king to

follow, even wher e a tr eat y is in existen ce.

Effort s of the govern men t to secure co-

opera tion with other foreign coun tr ies havel e d t o t h e p r o m u l g a t i o n o f M u t u a l

Assistance in Criminal Matt ers With in the

C om m o n w e a l t h ( E n a c t m e n t a n d

En forcement) Decree No.13 of 1988. Under

th e Decree it will be possible to co-opera te

w i t h C o m m o n w e a l t h s t a t e s i n a r e a s

dealing with the locat ion of witnesses,

t rac ing , se i zure and for fe i tu re of the

pr oceeds of cr ime.

Also in 1984, Nigeria entered into aC r i m i na l Inves t i ga t i on C o-ope ra t i on

Agreemen t with th e Requblic of Benin,

G h a n a a n d Tog o. T h e r e i s a l s o a n

Extr adition Treat y between th e Republic

of Benin , Ghan a a nd Togo with N igeria.

The exploi ta t ion of the p rovisions of

these co-operat ion agreements, and the

e x p a n s i on o f s u c h r e l a t i o n s t o

accomm odat e relevant coun tr ies, will assist

i n t h e r e t r i e v a l o f t h e p r o c e e d s o f corr upt ion, t hu s cont rolling t he mena ce.

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The Effective Administration of Criminal Justice