FG Plans Review Of Juvenile Laws Over Alarming Rate Of Drug Abuse, Others

The Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, on Thursday, in Abuja, inaugurated a 13-man technical committee to review and prepare a draft bill of the Borstal Institutions and Remand Centre Act 2004.

The existing legislation under review would regulate how and where offenders between 16 -21 years of age should be detained and eventually reformed.

The AGF lamented that Nigeria is witnessing an alarming rate of criminal activities by juveniles who involve themselves in drug abuse, alcoholism, theft, burglary and violence.

Malami, who was represented by the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Beatrice Jedy-Agba said that it is crucial to review the Act to match with international best practices and conform to the Child Rights Act, 2003, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and the Correctional Services Act, 2019.

Jedy-Agba said, “It is for this reason that the ministry has now partnered with the Federal Ministry of Interior, Law Reform Commission and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs to review and prepare a draft bill of the Borstal Institution and Remand Centre acts 2004.

“The final document will then be presented to the president for onward transmission to the National Assembly for enactment into law.”

On his part, the former Chief Judge, FCT High Court, Justice I.U. Bello(Rtd) who serves as Chairman, Presidential Committee on Correctional Reform and Decongestion, highlighted the shortfalls of the present law.

He said while the act allows the detention of offenders between the ages of 16-21, most of the children in the borstals ( a place where offenders under 21 and above 16 are detained) are either below or above the specified age bracket.

“Most of them seen at the Ilorin Borstal Institute were in their 30s and 40s with wives and kids,” he said.

He added, “More so, factors like sequence of the delinquency, possibilities of functioning as a contamination risk and requirements of custody, juvenile educational and vocational training needs of children, their background, possibilities of their social adjustment, their prospects after release, as well as rehabilitation are not taken into consideration.”

Bello also advocated the provision of special juvenile courts to address cases of juvenile matters.

Among other things, the technical committee’s terms of reference include “to place emphasis on regular educational and vocational training regimen with a demanding physical training content.”