DECONSTRUCTING THE BARRIERS TO ACCESS TO JUSTICE BY CRIME VICTIMS IN THE NIGERIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.

Abstract

Nigeria today more than ever is replete with high profile cases of criminalities. These include but are  not  limited  to:  murder,  robbery,  kidnapping,  rape,  child-trafficking,  insurgency,  banditry, theft, youth’s restiveness, fraud, electoral malpractices/irregularities, corruption etc. Crimes such as  these  have  the  capacity  of  consuming  any  given  society  where  they  are  found.  Victims  of these crimes are usually helpless and hopeless as the Judiciary which they look up to as the last hope of the common man appears also to be helpless as it is not tackling  the situation head on. Victims of crime in their efforts to get justice also face other challenges such as finance as they bear  the  cost  of  coming  to  court  to  give  evidence,  lack  of  protection  from  the  State during  the prosecution  of  their  case,  undue  delay  in  justice  dispensation  (as  justice  delayed  they  say,  is  justice denied) . This paper seeks to unearth the multifarious challenges facing victims of crimes in Nigeria. The approach adopted in this paper isdoctrinal. It concludes that unless the Nigerian criminal  justice  system  is  retooled,  re-jigged,  overhauled  and  reinforced,  Nigeria  might  be overwhelmed by these vices and thereby  rendering her lawless where survival would be for the fittest.