The Institute of Criminal Justice and Criminology Administration (ICJCA), recently installed the Rebuja of Osooro, Igbotako, Ondo State, Oba Gbadebo Bajowa, as its new president and chairman of council. It equally inaugurated AIG Oshodi-Glover Agboola Samuel, Air Commodore Emmanuel Festus (rtd), Brig. General Aromire Moronfolu Adeboye, CP Oyebade Adeleye Olusola, Controller Ladipo Tunde Olatunbosun, Deputy Controller, Ekpendu Lizzier Mwuese and others as members.

Registrar and chief executive officer of ICJCA, Dr. Primus Emenuga, said it was a journey started in 2012, adding that now that they have a substantive president as well as council members, they are good to go. He disclosed that the institute has concluded arrangements to sponsor and conduct research into security challenges confronting Nigeria’s judiciary system and criminal administration.

He described the level of security challenges in the country as enormous, reiterating that the institute, as a professional body would align with existing institutions towards generating solutions that would be forwarded to the Federal Government for possible actions:

“Our coming here today as a professional body is to align with what is already existing so as to proffer a solution on how to turn things around. At this moment, our security architecture is nothing to write home about. If you look at our core competence area, we mentioned the justice system and the law enforcement.

“Now that we have existing council and our president in place, we can now fly in the sense that we can now reach out, brain storm on so many issues confronting security challenges confronting this nation. We will now carry out research and proffer solutions and look for a way of pushing these solutions directly to the federal government, because judicial institutes are not run individually.”

According to him, it seems the executive arm of government is not looking at the advice given: “There would be a change someday because ideas that are being churned out by professional bodies and personnel themselves to the government will go a long way in turning things around for the country.”

Oba Bajowa said the institute would endeavor to improve on the existing justice system in Nigeria by developing and providing good but strategic security administrators and defence initiative in both government and private organisations. He called for cooperation and commitment among members, stating that incompetence, dishonesty, fraud and any other unethical workplace practice would be sanctioned:

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“The relationship between the institute and the corporate world would be so strong, cordial and mutually beneficial, that most of the institute’s projects and activities would be partly financed by them.

“In return, the institute will provide criminology and security training and workshop for the individual and corporate members. We know the importance of such and we will welcome and embrace such collaboration and mutually beneficial relationships.

“Top of our agenda in our public advocacy is to sponsor and conduct research into some of the challenges in our justice system and criminology administration confronting our country. This will impact greatly in the much talked about corruption bedeviling the country.”

In his paper; “Criminal Justice System in Nigeria, Impact on Law Enforcement and Corrections,”a security expert, Michael Imitimi, outlined the following as challenges facing the enforcement of law in the country; leadership corruption, lack of communication gadgets, ill-equipped training schools, abysmal personnel welfare and poor remuneration among others:

“It is apparent that not much can be achieved without a proper synergy between the security agencies. The Customs, Immigration, Armed Forces, Civil Defense, NDLEA and DSS as a matter of prime importance to work in contact with the police. This is imperative if we are to register significant milestone in the fight to stem the tide of horrific crimes in the country.

“The espirit de corps among prisoners helps to sustain relationship outside the prisons, which could be exploited for future crimes. This will mean a continuing drift along the “free” recidivism. It is there concluded that both the conditions in the prisons and societal attitudes to ex-prisoners are twin-forces recidivism.”

Imitimi reiterated that not until the criminal justice system and the law enforcement worked out a proper reformation, rehabilitative centers for offenders, the alarming increase of crimes would still be problems to the Nigerian society.