OKADA – Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) of Igbinedion University, Okada, Professor Osaretin George Izevbuwa, has called for urgent and comprehensive reforms of Nigeria’s criminal justice system, warning that institutional failures have left thousands of citizens languishing in detention without trial.
Izevbuwa, who raised the alarm on Thursday, October 29, while delivering the university’s 27th Inaugural Lecture and the fifth in the Oba Erediauwa College of Law, disclosed that approximately 66 per cent of inmates in Nigerian correctional facilities were awaiting trial.
The lecture, held at the institution’s main auditorium, was titled “Institutional Pathologies and Systemic Reforms: The Gatekeepers’ Role in the Administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria.”
Citing 2024 statistics, the professor said Nigeria’s correctional population stood at 79,237, with 52,519 inmates awaiting trial, describing the situation as a troubling reflection of systemic weaknesses across the criminal justice institutions.
He identified arbitrary arrests, torture, coerced confessions, corruption, abuse of police powers in civil disputes, judicial delays and prolonged remand as interconnected challenges undermining public confidence in the justice system.
Illustrating the human consequences, Izevbuwa cited the case of Giff Tobia, who was arrested in Port Harcourt in 2017 over a robbery incident despite having no connection with the crime. Tobia reportedly spent eight years and four months in detention without trial before securing his freedom through the intervention of a human-rights lawyer.
He stressed that meaningful reform requires fundamental changes in the conduct, accountability and coordination of the four principal justice-sector gatekeepers: the police, prosecutors, judiciary and Nigerian Correctional Service.
Among his recommendations was the expedited passage of the National Policing Bill to establish a three-tier policing structure involving federal, state and local government police services, supported by safeguards for funding, recruitment, training and oversight.
He also advocated independent civilian oversight, improved police investigations through forensic laboratories and digital capabilities, enhanced human-rights training, greater prosecutorial independence and digitisation of case files.
For the judiciary, he recommended mandatory pre-trial case management, digital case administration and stricter enforcement of procedural standards to eliminate unnecessary delays.
He further called for wider application of bail, probation, community service and restorative justice, particularly for minor offences, to address overcrowding in correctional facilities.
Emphasising the need for an effective Justice Information Management System, he said cases must be tracked from arrest through prosecution and trial to conviction or discharge.
Izevbuwa maintained that reform must produce measurable outcomes, including suspects arraigned within 24 hours, credible investigations, timely trials and pre-trial detention treated as an exception rather than the rule.
Declaring that public silence sustains institutional wrongdoing, he said: “Fear keeps evil ideas alive; courage kills them. The silence of good people allows foolishness to grow, but one voice at the right time can change history. Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is to simply speak.”
He insisted that justice must not remain a privilege for the wealthy and influential but a constitutional guarantee accessible to every Nigerian.
Earlier, Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Lawrence Ezemonye, described Izevbuwa as a foundational figure at IUO, having served as Dean of the College of Law before his current appointment as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration).
“Prof. Izevbuwa is a distinguished Nigerian legal scholar, university administrator and Professor of Comparative Criminal Law.
“He is an active public voice on critical national issues,” Ezemonye said.
The highlight of the event was the decoration of Professor Osaretin Izevbuwa with the university’s Inaugural Medallion by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lawrence Ezemonye.