The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, has stressed the need to re-evaluate and improve awareness on the impact of the justice system as it relates to petty offences.<\/p>\n
In her goodwill message during the National Conference on \u2018Nigerian Criminal Justice System and the Criminalisation of Poverty\u2019 in Abuja, yesterday, she said the re-evaluation should include applying standards and principles of human rights in protecting the poor and promoting equality and fairness.<\/p>\n
The conference, with the theme, \u2018The Nigeria Criminal Justice System: The Criminalisation of Poverty\u2019, was organised by Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre led by Okechukwu Nwanguma.<\/p>\n
The minister\u2019s words: \u201cThe government has been making efforts towards lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
though report by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) portrays something frightening, as it indicates that four in 10 Nigerians live below the poverty line.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Minister of Women Affairs, which is saddled with the responsibility of stimulating action to promote civic, political, social and economic participation of women and protecting the rights of children, I observed that once people are faced with economic obstacles, our law sometimes funnel them into the justice system, instead of creating a functional social protection system.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to her, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), which was signed into law in 2015 by then President Goodluck Jonathan; the new Correctional Service Act of 2019 and the 2020 Police Act signed by President Muhammadu Buhari clearly underscore the need to re-evaluate our criminal justice system.<\/p>\n
She called for more synergy between the system and the social, educational and economic domains.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe equally need well-thought-out poverty alleviation programmes that entail technological skills acquisition, vocational training, micro-lending interventions and solution to our power situation as a panacea to poverty,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n<\/article><\/div>\n