About

ABOUT NMS

The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) was enacted in 2015, but challenges with its implementation persist. Similarly, each of Nigeria’s 36 states has passed its own version, called the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL). However, passing the law is just the first step—proper implementation remains a significant challenge. Despite these laws being in place, the criminal justice system in Nigeria continues to struggle. Key challenges include inadequate investigations, weak prosecution efforts, delayed case resolution, court backlogs, and overcrowding in correctional facilities. While some progress has been made in prosecuting high-profile corruption cases, many correctional centers remain severely overcrowded, often with pretrial detainees, including children. Prolonged delays in deciding cases send the wrong message to the public, suggesting that criminal behavior may go unpunished. This lack of deterrence encourages societal ills such as corruption, terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, and abuse of power. The National Minimum Standards Project The National Minimum Standards (NMS) Project is a collaborative initiative of the Ministries of Justice civil society and development partners aimed at improving the implementation of the ACJA and ACJLs at both federal and state levels.

Background

Before the ACJA, different regions of Nigeria operated under different criminal procedure frameworks: Northern states followed the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). Southern states applied the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) or similar laws. These regional differences created inconsistencies in how crimes were prosecuted across the country, leading to gaps in effectiveness. Criminal activities often span across state borders, requiring a coordinated and consistent approach to investigation and prosecution. The ACJA reforms were introduced to harmonize criminal justice processes nationwide. However, states did not adopt identical provisions under their ACJLs, resulting in continued procedural variations. To ensure that Nigeria’s criminal justice system becomes more efficient and accessible to all, including children, and can effectively combat corruption, it is essential to set up uniform standards for justice delivery across the country

Objectives of the NMS

The National Minimum Standards aim to create a national framework for evaluating the implementation of the ACJA and ACJLs, including a National Scoresheet to track and display the performance of each state.