COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN NIGERIA: A CALL FOR A BETTER APPLICATION

Abstract

The world is moving into an uncertain future and one does not need a crystal ball to agree that uncertainty stares the whole world in the face; one only need reference the global pandemic caused by the dreaded corona virus. Famously, for a long time it has been known that when America sneezes the whole world catches a cold, but this time china Coughed and the whole globe was affected. Nigeria was not spared and neither were its security apparatus spared nor the Criminal Justice Administration (CJA) which struggled to cope with the new challenges that surfaced due to the pandemic. In this entire viral hurricane witnessed globally how did the Criminal Justice Administration (CJA) and its attendant legal framework in Nigeria fare? This paper has as its focal point to review said legal framework viz a viz attendant challenges leading to a call for better application of the legal framework to the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria hoping that lessons were learnt from mistakes made.