The Centre for Social-Legal Studies (CSLS) conducted a capacity-building training on Tuesday for 100 new rangers tasked with promoting compliance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) and state-level Administration of Criminal Justice Laws (ACJLs). The initiative aims to strengthen criminal justice reform across federal and state courts. Yemi Akinseye-George, President of CSLS and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), stated the training seeks to raise a new generation of advocates for justice reform, including lawyers, civil servants, media practitioners, and court officials. He described the rangers as volunteers committed to advancing the rule of law and implementing the National Minimum Standards (NMS) for justice delivery. The CSLS currently has nearly 1,000 rangers but aims to expand, citing Nigeria's population of over 200 million.
Seline Bala, a legal professional and member of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), expressed hope the training would address pressing issues like compensation. Facilitator Oyinloye Okpajobe noted the need for more rangers to broaden impact. Kelvin Mejulu, another facilitator, urged participants to act as change agents, not police, and called for full digitisation of court systems to eliminate trial de novo and reduce case backlogs. He also criticised trial-within-trial practices and urged lawyers to prioritise fair trials. Sharon Jibanniya, another facilitator, highlighted the NMS as a tool for uniformity in justice implementation and called for collaboration between the Ministry of Justice, CSOs, and development partners.
Training 100 new rangers won't shift the justice system's inertia without structural enforcement. Yemi Akinseye-George's push for digitisation and NMS compliance remains aspirational when courts still operate manually in major cities. A thousand rangers are symbolic if the judiciary and bar associations fail to enforce existing standards. Real change hinges not on advocacy headcount but on binding adoption of reforms already on paper.
