ABSTRACT

This project titled”An Appraisal of the Application of Plea Bargaining Procedure in Nigerian Criminal Justice System” is aimed at ascertaining the applicability of the concept of plea bargain in the penal system being that it is a novel phenomenon in the general Criminal Justice System despite the fact it is holding sway in some developed criminal justice jurisdictions like the United States of America for example. The visible application of the concept into the Nigeria Criminal Justice System by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with the provision of S. 14(2) of the EFCC Act, 2004 which is to the effect that the commission may compound any offences punishable under the act by accepting such sums of money as it thinks fit exceeding the maximum amount to which that person would have been liable if he had been convicted of that offence. It is against this backdrop that the objective of this research is built on analyzing the concept and practice, of plea bargain in Nigeria with a view to clearing the controversy surrounding its legality and by so doing an examination of the practice of the concept in other jurisdictions are mentioned. It is noteworthy to be mentioned that the penal code and the criminal code as applicable in the northern and southern Nigeria respectively do not cover the subject mater of plea bargain whatsoever. The objective of this research therefore, is to identify the mode of practice of plea bargaining in Nigeria and the inadequacies of the law regulating the subject mater accounting for the controversy and to finally proffer measure. Measure needed for the proactiveness of the law where necessary so as to meet up with the unchallenged practices in other jurisdictions. It is provoking intellectual debates for and against it being that there is no clear federal legislation on the subject matter other than the administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos state. It is against this backdrop that the objective of this research is built on analysing the concept and its practice in Nigeria with a view to clearing the controversy surrounding its legality in Nigeria. The writer also took time to look into the Practice if plea bargain in other jurisdictions. The writer also had a look into the penal code and the criminal code as applicable in the northern and southern Nigeria respectively to with a view to seeing if there are traces of plea bargain whatsoever. It is on this note that the research was concluded by recommending (among others) that there be a clear Federal Legislation on plea bargain that will apply to the Nigerian criminal justice following the example of Lagos state. The sources of information relied upon here are the combination of primary sources like statutes, case laws and secondary sources ranging from journals, workshop materials, internet materials, textbooks, contributions to edited books, to accomplish this work