The Federal Government has disclosed that the federal government successfully prosecuted and convicted 226 terrorism suspect in December last year.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, made the disclosure on Thursday during a pecial engagement session organized to update Nigerians and stakeholders on measures and achievements of the Federal Ministry of Justice and its agencies in the area of advancing the administration of criminal justice, from October 2024 to date.
Fagbemi noted that the feat was as a result of deliberate efforts at improving criminal justice system in Nigeria.
He said that the Federal Ministry of Justice recorded considerable improvement in the prosecution of crimes under its purview.
“The review period also witnessed effective conduct of 237 terrorism cases from December 9-13, 2024, out of which 226 terrorism suspects were successfully prosecuted and convicted”, Fagbemi said.
“These achievements came about as a result of extant policies and actions targeted at improving the capacity of our prosecutors, increasing synergy amongst prosecuting agencies, developing appropriate policy framework in collaboration with office of the NSA and other law enforcement or security agencies”, he added.
Other areas of success the Minister listed included the establishment of a Joint Case Team (JCT) on cyber-crime, aimed at curtailing the menace of cybercrime.
Besides, he noted that the federal government is currently reviewing the Cyber Crime Legal Framework to strengthen national framework, aligning with emerging trends and global best practice.
Meanwhile, the Minister stated that the Ministry also recorded progress in enhancing protection for Victims of Sexual and Gender Based Violence through awareness campaigns and providing access to Justice for victims.
“Within the reporting period, the Ministry recorded six (6) convictions for SGBV offences, including the conviction of Peter Nwachukwu the husband of Osinachi Nwachukwu, the late gospel singer.
“The Ministry has continued to take measures to ensure that Nigeria develops a child-sensitive justice system that responds to the needs of children in contact with the law, whether as victims, witnesses, or offenders. In this regard, we have continued to pursue the enactment of laws that criminalize child recruitment, while ensuring the implementation safeguards for child-offenders”, Fagbemi noted.
In the area of anti-corruption and asset recovery, the Minister disclosed that Nigeria executed an Asset Sharing Agreement with the United States of America on January 10, 2025 which led to the repatriation of the Galactica Assets in the sum of $52,882,018.95 – Fifty-Two Million, Eight Hundred and Eighty-Two Thousand, Eighteen United States Dollars and Ninety-Five Cents ($52,882,018.95) from the USA.
He stated that out of the recovered sum, US$50 million would be deployed to funding the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up (DARES) Project which is an initiative of the Federal Government to provide electricity access to 17.5 million Nigerians, while the remaining sum of US$2.88 million will be deployed to counter-terrorism capacity building for Criminal Justice Sector practitioners.
“There are also ongoing discussions and actions on pending recoveries in foreign jurisdictions like the U.S.A, Bailiwick of Jersey and France. It is hoped that we can conclude these negotiations soon in order to ensure that more of our funds hidden in various jurisdictions are repatriated to Nigeria”, he added.
In the area of legal aid, Fagbemi disclosed that the government is promoting access to justice through the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, which has the mandate of rendering free legal services in criminal and civil matters to poor Nigerians.
According to him, the Council handled 2,790 Criminal cases, 1,021 Civil matters (out of which 482 were handled using Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms).
“The Council also undertook 760 visits to Correctional facilities across the Federation to review the cases of inmates, while 637 suspects were assisted during police interviews and grant of bail under the Agency’s Police Duty Solicitor Scheme (PDSS).
“Furthermore, the Council embarked on media engagement and Community Sensitization Campaigns on citizens’ rights and access to criminal justice system in collaboration with traditional rulers, religious leaders and community-based organizations nationwide, with a total of 370 sensitization campaigns was carried out in the reporting period”, he added.
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