No rift between office of Attorney-General of Federation and EFCC – Malami

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), has said there is no rift between his office and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Malami made the clarification on the relationship on Thursday in Abuja while fielding questions from newsmen .

The attorney-general, who is also the Minister of Justice, was specifically reacting to the question as to whether a letter he wrote to the commission concerning prosecution of high profile cases was causing a rift between both offices.
The minister simply said: “there is no rift”.
He said that the press briefing, which was on the first ever National Summit on Justice in the country, was to enable stakeholders harmonise various reforms in the justice sector.
“The summit is expected to bring together stakeholders in the justice sector to consider, adopt and validate the draft National Policy on Justice developed by a technical committee constituted by the Ministry of Justice in 2016.

“Given the challenges militating against an effective administration of justice and the peculiarity of our federal system, there is the need to harmonise and integrate the various reform initiatives into a clearly articulated National Justice Policy.”

According to the minister, the need for a National Policy on Justice arose due to the imperative of building consensus between justice sector institutions and practitioners.
He said this was for the purpose of addressing collectively the various challenges confronting the justice system in the country and evolving a justice system that was “fairer, more effective, accessible, efficient and responsive”.
Malami said that the policy was expected to clearly define Nigeria’s political philosophy with respect to justice delivery and provide a common direction for stakeholders in the justice sector.

“The policy in broad terms is expected to set out a common vision and provide the guidelines for promoting an effective justice system that guarantees the freedom of the people and socio-economic development of the nation.”
The summit which is scheduled to hold from Aug. 8 to 10 is expected to be declared open by the Acting President.
It is also expected to attract all Attorneys-General, Solicitors-General, Chief Judges of all the 36 states of the federation and the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Others expected to attend the summit are the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Inspector -General of Police and the Controller-General of Nigerian Prisons Service among others.(NAN)