Child justice administration in the Nigerian Child Rights Act: Lessons from South Africa

Abstract

Child justice administration is critical in any legal system. This is due to a general recognition of the vulnerability of children. As such, they must be treated with much care and should be distinguished from adults in the handling of their legal matters. Thus, special legal regimes are put in place to protect the rights of this special class of persons. In Nigeria, the Children and Young Persons Act, together with other related criminal laws, used to be the main statute on child justice administration. However, their inadequacies, the fact that they were uncoordinated and that large numbers of children technically fell outside their scope, in 2003 led to the enactment of the Nigerian Child Rights Act. The goal of the Child Rights Act was to remedy some of the former injustices against children who are either in conflict with the law or in need of care and protection. The article argues that even this new law does not provide adequate protection for the rights of children as they are still being tried in conventional court environments by the same judges that handle adult criminal cases. The article, therefore, critically examines child justice administration under the regimes of the Child Rights Act, the Children and Young Persons Act and other relevant laws. It argues that, in spite of the lofty provisions of the Child Rights Act, more needs to be done for the protection of the rights of the child. As such, one can gain vital insights from the South African child justice administration regime which, for example, has separate civil and criminal jurisdictions for civil and criminal cases involving children.