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56
NIGERIA
‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’
the necessary court infrastructure and equipment to enable them work efficiently. In addition,
many of the systems and processes inherited by Ministries of Justice have largely led to
inefficiency and ineffectiveness.”
The key recommendations included:
“We must consider whether the death penalty has succeeded in lowering the tempo and
rampage of crime in Nigeria or whether it has contributed to violent crimes. We must consider
whether Nigerians can continue to cling to the death penalty when other countries are
gradually retreating from the death penalty and are building more humane societies for their
people. We must therefore impose at least a five-year moratorium on the death penalty and
keep good data and statistics on crime and criminology in Nigeria.”
“The various State Governments must also improve the quality of the lives of the ordinary
people through the provision of good housing, employment, quality education, good health
facilities, good roads, etc. The Nigerian people do not demand much from their government
and if their quality of life is improved, there will be reduction of crime in the society. Some
of the State Governments are using the death penalty as a cover for their incompetence and
inability to improve the quality of lives of the people. They want to be tough on violent crimes
and crimes of mortality while using the cover of the State to cover their own criminality.”
“It is the submission of the study group that an enhanced investment in the justice sector
that includes victim compensation and support will go a long way in restoring the confidence
of the citizenry in the criminal justice system and attitude to offenders.”
“The call for an official moratorium on all executions is borne out of the conviction that
the Federal Government can no longer ignore the systemic problems that long have existed
in the criminal justice system.”
“The average period spent on death row by prison inmates is 20 years. We note that
many of these persons have been diagnosed for various mental illness. The study group
recommends that the sentences of all inmates presently on death row whose appeals have
been concluded should be commuted to life imprisonment.”
Amnesty International October 2008 Index: AFR 44/020/2008