Testimonial
Mrs Farida Waziri AIG (RTD), EFCC Chairman
"Today's Data Centre commissioning illustrates clearly and in concrete terms what the cooperation between the Commission and the development partners present here can achieve. The Data Centres will serve as the nerve centres and repositories of data storage for the work the EFCC undertakes and is therefore a very important milestone in the sustained development of the Commission."
Hon. Justice Emeka Nzegwu (OFR), Chief Judge of Anambra State
"Today, being the 1st day of June, 2009, the establishment of the Judiciary Research Centre (JRC) , High Court of Justice, Awka, has become a reality. It is with great joy and happiness, and indeed with deep gratitude to God Almighty, that I find myself having to commission this project."
Hon. Justice S.A. Mahuta (OFR), Chief Judge of Katsina State
"The establishment of this Centre will definitely provide succour to Judicial Officers and their research and access to materials. In addition, the Centre will provide the basis for an eventual e-judiciary which appears to be inevitable in the nearest future. I therefore call on my brother judges, the management and support staff to make best use of the state-of-art-facilities provided by the Centre."
Hon. Justice R.H. Cudjoe (OFR), Chief Judge of Kaduna State
"The aim of the Centre is to improve access to information and international best practices. The Centre will aid Judges immensely in writing judgements, as they will be able to easily check references and cases cited by counsel. It will facilitate easy access to information and increase case flow management, thereby increasing speed and timeliness in justice delivery and easy access to justice. We sincerely thank the European Commission for supporting us in funding this Research Centre and the UNODC for its design and implementation. We thank you very much for all your good work and hope that you will continue to identify with us in achieving speedy dispensation of justice."
Hon. Justice I. Hwunde, Chief Judge of Benue State
"A Judicial Research Centre, put in place by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in collaboration with the State Judiciary, and well equipped with the latest information technology gadget, is ready for commissioning this morning. Thanks to the UNODC for its tremendous support in actualising this dream. It was the officials of UNODC that sold this idea to the State Judiciary and we quickly embraced the idea and commenced work on the project.
Your Excellency, the centre you are about to commission is the first of its kind in the North Central Zone and is well equipped to meet the research needs of our staff, and can compete with any research centre elsewhere. As John Donne once said: 'No man is an island entirely unto himself'.
The advancement of this legal and judicial knowledge is what is packaged today as a Research Centre, a well programmed system of continuing legal and judicial education through what we are witnessing today."
Hon. Justice L.H. Gummi (OFR),Chief Judge of FCT Abuja
"The JRC is designed to assist Judges and Magistrates in managing growing case loads while keeping abreast of relevant laws.It is a project designed to assist the judiciary in developing sustainable capacity and strengthen judicial integrity aimed at creating the required conditions for a more effective and efficient case load management.. This centre will certainly go a very long way in complementing our efforts towards a timely, efficient and more effective justice delivery. In the FCT Judiciary, we have taken the following concrete actions for timely disposal of cases."
Mr. Denis Thieulin, Charge d'Affaires, EC Delegation (Abuja)
"The Data Centre is a state of the art facility and an IT solution that is important for law enforcement agencies and financial intelligence units. We have now an efficient and impressive tool but a key condition for success is that banks and the relevant financial institutions must provide the data required to ensure it works."
Mr. Claudi Ferrer, Representative of EU Delegation, Abuja (Kaduna State JRC Commissioning)
"The Judicial Research Centre is a facility that will increase the judicial operational capacity through the provision of IT equipment, research tools, data communication solutions and training in each of the ten (10) selected states of the project. Nigeria has now a useful tool for improving the State Judicial efficiency and we are convinced that this Judicial Centre will contribute to enhance its performance. The Judiciary in Kaduna will also gain a lot by making full use of these facilities which will require proper maintenance and further investment to remain a state-for-the-art operation."
Mr. Claudi Ferrer, Representative of EU Delegation, Abuja (FCT Abuja JRC Commissioning)
"The Judicial Research Centre is a facility that will increase the judicial operational capacity through the provision of IT equipment, research tools, data communication solutions and training in each of the 10 selected states of the project. Nigeria has now a useful tool for improving the State Judicial efficiency and we are convinced that this Juicial Research Centre will contribute to enhance its performance."
"This Data Centre as one of the three envisioned by the EFCC is very crucial in the fight against corruption… this Data Centre is certainly our vehicle towards a decent war against corruption in our country."
Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Shema (FNIM), Executive Governor of Katsina
"Today's commissioning of the Judicial Research Centre is a clear testimony of our commitment to improving the Judiciary and Justice delivery in the State ... to achieve maximum benefits of this project, the Government will consider the possibility of expanding the Centre to cover all Judicial Divisions in the State, as well as providing similar facility to the Ministry of Justice."
Chief Steven Lawani (OFR), Acting Governor of Benue State
"I am glad to be here and to address you on this occasion of the commissioning of the Judicial Research Centre (JRC) which has been provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in conjunction with the Benue State Judiciary. Let me very specially welcome the delegation of the UNODC to Makurdi, the Benue State Capital, and to commend them for making this occasion possible.
Justice delayed is not only justice denied, but the transparency of verdicts too sometimes called to question when these delays occur. Quite often, apart from technical delay, the materials and facilities at the disposal of our Judicial officers also play a part. The envisaged practical usefulness of the Research Centre to the High Court, Magistrate and Area Court Judges as well as other Judicial Officers underscores the importance of this Centre to the entire Justice system in the state.
It is in the light of the foregoing, once again, that I commend the UNODC for equipping this Centre and its untiring efforts in the capacity building of staff in the State Judiciary. I understand that the Centre is the best in the North Central Zone and can match any Research Centre elsewhere. We commend, also, the Honourable Chief Judge for the initiative to partner with the UNODC in the provision of the Centre even with the lean resources at his disposal."
Dr. Phillip Kruss, UNODC ITS Chief (Vienna)
"For this particular project, the Information Technology Service of UNODC is using best practices developed over years of experience, ITS actually provides services to governments in 41 countries at this time. This experience has now been formalised in an infrastructure implementation process that we call goIDM (government office Infrastructure and Data Centre Model)."
Mr. Anthony Buckingham, Snr. Project Coordinator, UNODC Project (NGAS08), (Abuja)
"We have been on ground with EFCC for a little more than two years and in that time have seen the Commission's ICT transformed … in my view, these combined, and there are many other related items such as training which I have not mentioned, amount to a revolution in ICT capacity."
Ms. Dagmar Thomas, UNODC Country Representative (Anambra State JRC Commissioning)
"Today, we are actually opening this Judicial Research Centre and, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the first of such Centres in Nigeria! We will be opening other Centres in the coming months in Kaduna, Katsina and Borno States but it is Anambra that has championed the work on Judicial Research Centres, and this is a most laudable accomplishment..."
Ms. Dagmar Thomas, UNODC Country Representative (Katsina State JRC Commissioning)
"Today, the Katsina State Judiciary with the support of its partners, in particular the National Judicial Institute, the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime come together for the opening of the second Judicial Research Centre (JRC) in Nigeria. This is one of the key achievements of the project. This facility will provide access to legal research tools, the world wide web, as well as some specialized IT applications which will help judicial officers and court officials alike to carry out their tasks more efficiently and with greater ease."
Ms. Dagmar Thomas, UNODC Country Representative (Kaduna State JRC Commissioning)
"A Judicial Research Centre is an IT facility which provides access to legal research tools, the Internet, and some specialized IT applications such as the Complaints Management System. A Judicial Research Centre has three (3) main components: a satellite dish, a server room of equipment, and a pool of computers, printers, and scanner. By deploying the Judicial Research Centre here at the Kaduna State Judiciary, we do hope that it will help to improve the performance and efficiency of judicial officers and court officials."
Ms. Dagmar Thomas, UNODC Country Representative (Benue State JRC Commissioning)
"But what is a Judicial Research Centre (JRC)?
A Judicial Research Centre is an IT facility which provides access to legal research tools, the Internet, and some specialized IT applications such as the Complaints Management System that helps to collect, analyze, and trace complaints. A Judicial Research Centre has three main components: a satellite dish, a Server Room of equipment, and a pool of computers, printers, and a scanner. By deploying the Judicial Research Centre here at the Benue State Judiciary, we do hope that it will help to improve the performance and efficiency of Judicial Officers and Court Officials."
Ms. Dagmar Thomas, UNODC Country Representative (FCT Abuja JRC Commissioning)
"The commissioning of this JRC today is yet another landmark event in the history of the FCT Judiciary towards improving justice delivery for the benefit of citizens. It is a good example of the enduring partnership between the European Union, UNODC and the Nigerian Government. It is hoped that such cooperation and its outcome will lead to greater support by the government to the implementation of the action plans drawn up by pilot states. UNODC on its part will continue to work with those who show commitment to the work we are doing in Nigeria. At this point, I will like to acknowledge the presence of Hon Justice Kate Abiri, the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, and welcome them as the 11th state of the judicial integrity programme in Nigeria."