THE MOBILE COURT IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The Criminal Justice System of most countries flow from the provisions of the Constitutions of such country which in Law are regarded as the grundnorm. It therefore follows by simple analogy that every criminal justice system must have a clearly defined line of courts for easy access. This being so, it is not unusual for one to be faced with a situation where a mobile court exists. In Nigeria as a focus, mobile courts are synonymous with the Federal Road Safety Corp for the trial of erring motorists and sometimes the Ministry of Environment for sanitation offences. The fulcrum of this work therefore is to appraise the Mobile Court and its contribution to the Criminal Justice System. The researcher started by clarifying the concepts in question and the composition of such mobile courts and as well considering the positive and negative values of the mobile courts’ vis a viz the Constitution of Nigeria with particular reference to fair hearing and trial in public. Finally, the researcher concluded by asserting that caution should be the watchword when the application and implementation of mobile court system are considered.