PPDC urges Tinubu to declare state of emergency in courts, prisons
The Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) has asked President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in Nigeria’s correctional centres and courts, citing “systemic decay” and “human rights violations” across the justice sector.
Speaking at the access to justice parley 2025 in Abuja on Thursday, Lucy Abagi, chief executive officer (CEO) of the PPDC, said the scale of dysfunction “has reached a crisis point,” with over 70,000 Nigerians in correctional facilities, most of them awaiting trial.
Abagi described the situation as “a grave assault” on constitutional rights, noting that many detainees may never appear before a judge.
“We are at a point where the president must declare a state of emergency in our correctional centres and courts,” she said.
Abagi lamented that the justice system “has been crippled by infrastructural deficits, lack of digital tools, and slow judicial processes.”
She noted that “more than 90 percent of our courts and judges still write long lines using pen and paper,” a practice she described as “embarrassing” in a digital era, adding that “cases drag for years because judgements cannot be delivered on time.”
Abagi said PPDC has provided free legal representation to “over 20,009 detainees” through its reforming pretrial detention project, leading “to the release of 8,552 individuals who had been unlawfully detained without trial.”
However, she said this impact remains minimal compared to the scale of the problem.
“We’ve reached less than one percent of the courts in Nigeria,” Abagi said.
She urged the federal government to “institutionalise digital justice systems in its budget” rather than “rely on donor-funded projects,” warning that “continued neglect would deepen the crisis.”
Dakas Dakas, CEO of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission, supported this, emphasizing that “sustainable development is impossible without a justice system that protects human rights.”
Melissa Omena, representing the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), also praised PPDC’s leadership.
“UNODC is proud to walk alongside Nigeria in strengthening justice, security, and governance—three pillars essential to sustainable development,” Omena said.
