An Appraisal of the Legal Framework for Child Justice Administration in Nigeria

Abstract

This article examined the two regimes of laws that regulate child justice administration in Nigeria. The main law in the first regime is the Child Rights Act (CRA) that was enacted in 2003 in order to give effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) to which Nigeria is a party. Although the CRA contains current international standards as provided by the CRC and ACRWC, the CRA is confronted with many implementation challenges. The provisions of the laws in the second regime comprising the Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA) and some criminal laws that are applicable to the States that have not adopted the provisions of the CRA are inadequate, archaic, and inconsistent with the current standards on child justice administration as contained in the international instruments and adopted in the CRA. Consequently, children that come in conflict with the law are often denied due justice in Nigeria. The article therefore recommended among others, the adoption and implementation of the CRA in all the States of the Federation, a repeal of the CYPA and the provisions for children in the other laws in the second regime.