FG Saved N4.5 Trillion From Court Cases – Malami

The Ministry of Justice has announced that it has saved the federal government of Nigeria about N4.5 trillion from prosecuting civil and criminal cases from 2015 till date.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami made this statement while addressing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Malami’s presentation to the council reads in part;

“Fundamentally arising from the cases that were conducted by the Federal Ministry of Justice, the ministry has succeeded in saving the government around N4.5 trillion relating to the claims that were presented in respect of these cases which were, indeed, conducted and concluded.”

The attorney general stated that over 70 percent of the inmates were awaiting trials, saying “there are sizeable numbers that couldn’t afford to pay limited fines that have been imposed on them arriving from their convictions”.

“There are those awaiting trials that have never seen the courtroom for over five years and above, and indeed, there are multiple legislations that are before the National Assembly that are intended to support the decongestion of prison formation process.”

The minister said he also informed the council about the ongoing prosecution of Boko Haram cases.

“We presented a position as to the number of cases that were prosecuted, number of convictions that were procured and the number of discharges that were made relating to the cases and then made a presentation as to the roadmaps for the continuation of the process”.

“There were other presentations that were made particularly as it relates to plea bargain. There are a lot of pending criminal cases in respect of which the accused persons standing trials made offers for plea bargain. Again, there are high profile cases that we made our scorecard and gave an insight as to their respective positions”.

“A presentation was made relating to national prosecution team as it relates to the cases they are expected to prosecute,” the minister added.