March 2021
The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme supported the Nigerian police in Lagos state to set up a Statement-Taking Room (STR) in the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in 2019. This was in line with section 9(3) of the Lagos State Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL).
Audio-visual recording facilities were provided to ensure an improvement in interrogation sessions and deter forced confessions. Between July 2019 and December 2020, over 700 voluntary confessional statements were taken in the facility covering cases of murder, theft, robbery, forgery, defilement, among others.
In February 2021, further support was provided by RoLAC with the donation of much-needed materials for the storage and retrieval of statements: 350 CDs, an external hard drive 2TB, a Flash drive, and an external DVD re-write. The new equipment enables copies of the CDs to be forwarded to the Directorate of Public Prosecution with every case filed to strengthen prosecution purposes.
Over 700 voluntary confessional statements were taken in the facility covering cases of murder, theft, robbery, forgery, defilement, among others.
(between July 2019 and December 2020)
