Lagos — "We shall never forget that liberty has here made her home nor her chosen alter neglected. Willing adherents shall constantly keep alive its fires. These shall glean and shine upon the shores of our Sister Republic in the East. Reflected thence and joined with answering rays, a stream of light shall pierce the darkness of man's ignorance and oppression, until liberty enlightens the world."

With this statement, a former President of the United States of America (USA),Mr. Groover Cleveland, unveiled the American Statue of Liberty more than two hundred years ago in New York. And true to his charge, up till date, the statue of liberty, otherwise called Miss Liberty has stood the test of time as well as remained a universal model because of her beauty and the unique symbols she represents.

Miss Liberty is the sculpture of an imposing woman with the height of about a ten-storey building. She wears a flowing gown with a large crown on her head, while staring steadily at the sky like mystic. In that mystifying posture, she held up her left hand which clenched a staff with star head; while her right hand held a giant ten-foot torch which since then has continued to beam its probing light into the large body of water below.

As a result of the symbols she represents, tenths of millions of people from across the globe troop to New York every year to admire and adolize Miss Liberty at her home within the coastal landscape of the Hudson River.

In a speech at the elaborate ceremony attended even by individual of other nationalities, Cleveland had said that the Statue of Liberty signified freedom, good conscience, democratic governance, popular rule of law and social justice. These, he said were the visions of the founding fathers of America, which according to him should be the dream of every American to actualize to enhance individual and national growth.

The President did not just stop at that oration. As a leader, he went further to demonstrate these in practical terms by creating an egalitarian society where trust and social justice reigned. And by so doing, the USA became a global model and its philosophy of governance spreading fast beyond the frontiers of America, including Nigeria.

Therefore, the search for the sustenance of the ideals of liberty has till date ruled individuals and nations. That is why Nigeria has since joined other nations to inculcate democracy and the fight for the sustenance of human dignity as enshrined in various international charters on fundamental human rights.

But sadly, as it is, the criminal justice administration in the country, which ought to uphold this principle is in decay. Much as the structure may be in place, the will to execute it is weak, just at the policy has been dismissed as obsolete. The popular principle of rule of law enunciates that nobody should be termed guilty of a crime, unless with the pronouncement of the court of law.

Thus, given this background of decay, a former Solicitor-General of Abia state, Mrs. Ngozi Chianakwalam, had early March this year, raised alarm over the decay in the nation's prisons. Chianakwalam had lamented that many persons currently being detained in the prisons nation-wide were not supposed to be in jail, just as the facilities were poor and inadequate for the inmates.

In consonance with Chianakwalam's observation, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Mike Aondoakaa finally opened a can of worms in the nation's prisons, stating that more than half of the population of the inmates do not deserve to be there. In an attempt to redress the situation, he inaugurated a ministerial committee that would tour prison formations across the country and fish out the "forgotten" prisoners. Aoanddoakaa, explained that the move was in line with President Yar'Adua's avowal stance on the sustenance of rule of law in the country.

The minister's revelation was recently confirmed by the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Prisons Service, Mr Olusola Ogundipe, who in a recent interview with newsmen stated that as at this year, we have 40,058 inmates. The figure of convicted people is not more than 12,000 nationwide. More than 28,000 are those that are awaiting trial". A gory insight indeed. But it has gone a long way to tell the entire story of failure in the nation's criminal justice administration.

Take for instance, the case of Bashiru Olaposi, a middle-aged Lagos commercial driver, who was arrested by the police and dumped in prison custody since the past six years without commutal. Olaposi's ordeal began in June 21, 2001 when he had a scuttle with a female traffic warden. According to information available to THISDAY, the traffic warden had stopped his mini-bus around Anthony area of Lagos city and demanded why he should ply the area rather than the Lagos Airport route officially inscribed on the body of his bus.

In an attempt to avoid being delayed and to get his vehicle off the hook, Olaposi was said to have given some money to the traffic warden, a move two of his passengers stoutly resisted, while the lady wouldn't let go either. Unfortunately, while the debacle was going on, some police men in a patrol van arrived at the scene and arrested Olaposi, his bus assistant and the two passengers opposed to the illegal "settlement" by the driver.

They were soon carted away and detained at Barracks police station, Surulere until when their case file was transferred to Panti. Olaposi with the three others were later arraigned at an Ebute Metta magistrate court on October 31, 2001 and remanded at Ikoyi prisons where they had remained ever since.

Another case of note is that of Hassan Karim, a Ghanaian trailer driver, who was arrested by the police and left to be forgotten in confinement at Ikoyi prisons since October 2001. On September 1, 2001 Karim was woken up in a trailer garage at Mangoro, Lagos by gun totting and torch-wielding policemen on patrol beat around 12 midnight. He was soon hand-cuffed and whisked off to a police formation in Onikan, Lagos and detained.

Later the same morning, 16 other boys were brought into the station by other patrol units that operated at different areas within the precints to join Karim, who had already been labeled as an armed robbery suspect. Ironically, Karim was asked to identify those boys as fellow armed robbers, of which he could not; just as none of the boys could equally identify him as a member of their gang.

Still, Karim was arraigned at an Igbosere magistrate court on December 13, 2001. But strange as it is, six years after his arrest, Karim is still being confined in prison custody with nobody to come to his rescue.

Given the circumstances on ground, the House of Representatives recently initiated a bill to repeal the Prisons Act of 1972, on which the running of the nation's prisons is hinged. Contributing to the debate, a member of the House, Hon Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, lamented that it was regrettable that "those inmates have spent an unreasonable time in prisons. The average waiting period is between five and ten years. Keeping thousands of persons in our prisons without trial is a grave violation of our constitutional guarantee of fair trial."

Nevertheless, while the government battles within to reclaim the souls of these forgotten prisoners, the former Solicitor-General, Chianakwalam, is stressing the need to avoid a situation where innocent persons are thrown into jail without fair trial, noting that the anomaly is most as a result of lack o access to lawyers by the affected persons. According to her, lawyers were empowered by training and the constitution to intervene on behalf of suspects during prosecutions, adding that they equally reduce the chances of illegal convinction of accused persons.

Chianakwalam who spoke to newsmen while on a promotional tour of her pet project "Legal Shield" in Awka, Anambra State, had said, "my experiences as a lawyer with over thirty years of practice at the bar, especially as a former Director of Public Prosecution and later Solicitor-General of Abia state, have shown me that many people now languishing in prisons nation-wide are doing so because they lack access to lawyers to intervene in their cases during court trials."

She regretted that as a result of lack of such facilities in place, many persons in distress had had to suffer injustices to the detriment of national development, since according to her nobody who was wrongly treated could not have peace of mind and the necessary mind-set to contribute positively to nation-building.

Chianakwalam said that it was as a result of the need to fill the vacuum and provide mass-oriented, cheap and affordable legal fees and service delivery that motivated her into incorporating the concept of legal shield, the first such legal services programme in the country. She pointed out that it attracts a minimal registration fee, as well as minimal monthly remittance to the company by any individual subscriber, just as there is also provisions for corporate groups in the programme.

The activist lawyer, who is now the Managing Director of Legal Standard Consulting, an Abuja-based legal firm with affiliates throughout the country, further explained that "the pre-paid legal services programme tagged Legal Shield offers services equivalent to that of an insurance company by providing clients with ready access to lawyers for preventive services with no worry about high consultation fees.

The scheme, she stated, equally provides financial protection in the event that a client encounters serious legal problem for which extensive legal services are required, just as it enables the client save money and have peace of mind because of the preventive care nature of the programme. In her words, "Legal Shield is aimed at making the law work effectively for the average citizen by initiating a process of tackling the legal needs of the people."

Since the struggle for liberty is inherent in every person, the initiative is much welcome. But there is the need for all to join forces with Chianakwalam as well as the leadership to rid the prisons of such unwelcome rot as it is presently witnessing for the benefit of posterity. While we talk about peace in the country, there is also the need to talk about justice. This is part of the major ways to work for stability.