A cross section of members of the Advisory Committee taking the Oath of Office/Allegiance administered by the Chief Judge of Ebonyi, Justice Elvis Ngene in the Judges Conference Room, High Court Complex, Abakaliki.
The Chief Judge (CJ) of Ebonyi, Justice Elvis Ngene on Monday in Abakaliki inaugurated a 15-member advisory committee charged with the responsibility of driving the Court Administration and Case Management (CACM) project of the state.
The CACM project is aimed at enhancing speedy dispensation of criminal justice through the digitisation of court processes, records and other judicial procedures.
Ngene advised members of the committee to work hard to achieve the objectives and intents of the project stressing that the benefits that Ebonyi as a whole and the judiciary in particular would derive from the project were enormous.
He commended the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), a non governmental organisation, for bringing the project to Ebonyi pledging effective partnership of the state government with the organisation to ensure a successful implementation.
He said: “The benefits the state as a whole and judiciary in particular will derive from this project are enormous; it will aid the quick and speedy dispensation of justice.
“All of us are witnesses to the slow pace of work due to the analogue system we employ in our various courts and even in the various organisations to which we are employed.
“Therefore, the aid of PPDC is coming to Ebonyi at no better time, so , I welcome all of you and pray that God will see us through and ensure that the intent of PPDC and Ebonyi government who are partnering with PPDC will work as effectively as it has worked in other states.”
Meanwhile, Dr Ben Odoh, the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in a brief remark applauded the PPDC for finding Ebonyi worthy of the CACM project and noted that the project earlier slated to last for one year has been extended to two years.
“We want to thank them for their practical kindness in assisting us to have access to justice by addressing capacity and infrastructure deficits to our criminal justice execution,” Odoh said.
Mrs Linda Daze, the Senior Programme Manager, Access to Justice of PPDC in her address noted that the court administration and criminal justice project was aimed at improving the efficiency of the criminal justice system in Ebonyi and by extension in Nigeria.
She noted that the project had been successfully implemented in Nasarawa, Kaduna, and Plateau States respectively.
The CACM project focuses on enhancing Nigeria’s criminal justice system’s capacity, efficiency, and accountability by improving court case management, better controlling the preservation and storage of evidence.
“By efficiency, we are looking at speed in criminal trials, accountability in the criminal justice system and transparency in the criminal justice system and these are the only things that will make the citizens of Ebonyi to believe in the criminal justice system.
“The project has four components; we will be looking at court administration, we will be looking at case management , we will be looking at case scheduling and notifications and we will also be looking at evidence-based relation.
“We believe that how these are handled, how these are managed affect the outcome of justice,” Daze said .
Daze who called for team work among members of the committee urged the state to own the project to ensure a resounding success.
She further noted that most of the courts in the state would be equipped with virtual facilities with backends connected to the Custodial Centre and speech to text transcriber to save judges from using long hands.
She noted that the whole essence of the project and virtual facilities were to make dispensation of criminal justice faster and assist the CJ to monitor and track cases in the various courts from the comfort of his office or anywhere in the world.
Our correspondent reports that the project is funded with support from the United State Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. ENDS//
