- ACJA will be translated into Yoruba for grassroots understanding, according to Mr. Gad Peter of the CLEEN Foundation in Kwara
- The project aims to ensure ACJA implementation, boost awareness, and improve the criminal justice system in Kwara and Nigeria
The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) will be translated into Yoruba in order for the message to reach the country’s grassroots and Yoruba-speaking communities.
Mr Gad Peter, Executive Director of the CLEEN Foundation, revealed this during a two-day seminar in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital.
The executive director, represented by CLEEN’s Programme Officer, Mrs Chigozirim Okoro, stated that the project is a result of the successful translation of the act into Hausa by civil society observatories in Jigawa state.
According to him, the entire purpose of the project is to ensure that the innovative provisions of the ACJA acts are implemented in Kwara and Nigeria as a whole and that duty-bearers comply with them.
He said;
We know the challenges but we are interested in the solution and with the progress we have made, Kwara will be among the leading states in ACJA implementation.
We already have the act translated in Hausa by a civil society observatory in Jigawa state. Now it is being translated into Yoruba in Kwara for the first time in the country, also driven by those that we have established here.
When the Yoruba version is out, it will be used to engage people at the various communities for the message to get to those that really need it. Ignorance is part of our problem and what you don’t know you cannot use, he noted.
He said the level of awareness from their experience in Kwara is 4 out of 10.
When the implementation begins, The executive director said changes begin to be noticeable.
And you will no longer see the usual high number of people in cells, judges and lawyers will conduct themselves well in court and improvement within the criminal justice value chain, he added.