RECOGNISING THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS IN THE NIGERIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Abstract

Nigeria operates an adversarial criminal justice system which does not particularly reckon with the active identity and role of victims of crime in the criminal justice process. The victim is rather an object of criminal prosecution and a means to an end in achieving the aims of the Prosecution. Aside being a witness or the principal witness for the Prosecution, the victim is no more than an ordinary bystander and spectator of the outcome of the ‘legal battle’ between the Prosecution and the Defence. Conversely, the accused person is not only an active participant in the criminal justice process but also accorded constitutionally entrenched rights which must be protected, otherwise, the criminal justice process may be vitiated. The need to recognise the rights of victims in the criminal justice process is no less important, given the nature of criminal justice. The subject of victims’ right and the victims’ rights movement received global attention post World War II and saw many civil law countries taking a victim-centric approach to criminal justice. The movement however, gained greater momentum with the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power in 1985. This doctrinal study adopts a desktop approach to examine the concept of victims’ rights in the Nigerian criminal justice system, the existence or non-existence of such rights and the need to review Nigeria’s current position on victims’ rights.