Sound judicial system key to political stability, economic growth – Gov. Ahmed

Kwara State Governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed, has restated the need for a sound criminal justice system for attainment for political stability, economic equilibrium and economic growth in the country.

Governor Ahmed made this assertion in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, at the Conference of Speakers of State Legislators on workshop on the Criminal Justice System Reforms in Nigeria.

According to him, “a sound criminal justice system is imperative for economic growth, political stability and social equilibrium. It is impossible to have a sound economy without a solid foundation of good laws that can curb anti social behaviours and other disruptive tendencies in the society”.

The governor, who noted that a sound criminal system was a prerequisite for rule of law and good governance stressed that unless the citizens were aware of and abide by the criminal justice system there would be a lull in attaining economic and political development.

“No modern society can thrive unless there are strong laws to guide social, economic and political conduct of its citizens. Unless the citizens are aware of and abide by a robust criminal justice system, the sense of security, peace and lawfulness necessary for economic and political development would be missing”.

Gov. Ahmed described the conference on criminal justice reform as timely as the country’s justice system is “in dire need of reforms in line with modern trends in crime prevention, commission, detection, investigation, prosecution and sanction”.

The Governor challenged the legislature to overhaul the process of amending the country’s laws to adapt to unforeseen issues by the country’s constitution, especially against the background of what he termed “recent events in the country’s political life”.

“I therefore call for a more dynamic constitutional amendment process to enable the legislative arm and indeed the whole country respond to critical needs to modify our laws while retaining the safeguards necessary to maintain their sanctity”, he said.

The Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Dr Ali Ahmad in his welcome address noted that the present uninterrupted democratic dispensation in the country since 1999 brought a lot of challenges to the country’s justice system, especially the criminal aspect.

Dr Ali added that the uninterrupted democracy has exposed “the inadequacies of criminal trials to guarantee fairness, orderliness and quick dispensation of justice”.

He emphasized that as the least developed area of government, the legislature needed to properly articulate its role and functions in the provision of legislative platform for the smooth operations of the executive and judicial arms of government for the institutionalization of confidence in the citizens on the independence of the judiciary in the country.