It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied.
This implies that when there is delay in a trial the purpose of justice is defeated.
To this end, various policies, strategies and review of the appropriate laws have been carried out to ensure speedy criminal trial but not much has been achieved.
In this report, We seeks the opinions of court users on how to really achieve speedy trial.
A visit to various prisons in Lagos shows that awaiting trial inmates far outnumbered convicted inmates, thereby making the facilities to lose their objectives of being correctional centers.
Complainants in criminal trials who have suffered some loss, do not really know when they can get redress in court which is effectively the same as having no redress at all.
It is also possible that an accused person to unnecessary spend a very long time in prison only for him to be found not guilty or his case abandoned for want of credible evidence and diligent prosecution.
Legal scholars say the right to a speedy trial is a human right under which it is asserted that a government prosecutor may not delay the trial of a criminal suspect arbitrarily and indefinitely.
Connected to speedy trial is the decongestion of prisons, but this has been more of an utopian goal that appears impossible to achieve.
The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba who said it was important that the nation implemented structures that avoid delay, called for the review of the Constitution creation of more special courts to aid dispensation of justice.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Kemi Pinheiro, called for the abolition of the ‘trial within trial’ system of determining the value of confessional statements in the country’s criminal justice system, saying that the practice had no basis in the Evidence Act, and was one of the major causes of delay in criminal trials.
Mr Pinheiro urged Chief Judges of state judiciaries to issue practice directions that would introduce a better and time friendly procedure for admitting confessional statements.
Another senior lawyer, Mr Lawal Pedro, said that the bar definitely had a role to play in ensuring that the objectives of the existing procedural laws in protecting the rights of the accused and preventing delays in criminal trials were achieved.
Mr Pedro, SAN, also suggested judicial activism to change the system.
Other resource person advocated appointment of retired judges and senior lawyers to adjudicate on issues relating to confessional statements before the matters reached the trial court.
This according to them would reduce the cases in the dockets of judges and speed up trial time.
