ISSUES IN THE NEWS - NPF, DPP-FMOJ LAUNCH NEW STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR EFFECTIVE COORDINATION

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and Department of Public Prosecution of the Federal Ministry of justice (DPP-FMOJ) was formally

launched on the 28th of November 2022. The SOP is the outcome of a collaboration between the ACJMC Sub-committee on Investigation and Prosecution, GIZ, , FCT Magistrates, RoLAC, NIALS and some CSOs including CSLS and JURITRUST.

The SOP draws strength from the Constitution, ACJA 2015, Police Act 2020 and provides step by step guidelines on  NPF-DPP-FMOJ cooperation aimed at – (a) promoting early engagement of a law officer of the DPP-FMOJ to guide NPF officials on ingredients relevant to establish an offence under investigation for a prosecution-led-investigation; (b) early notification and engagement of a prosecutor from the DPP-FMOJ in investigation of cases the DPP-FMOJ is solely empowered to prosecute and; (c) encouraging police prosecutors to be part of DPP-FMOJ team during prosecution for an investigation-led-prosecution.

Furthermore, the Standard Operating Procedure emphasizes the importance of utilizing liaison officers and the need for consistent joint trainings between investigators and prosecutors to exchange knowledge on common issues and share lessons learnt.

The development and adoption of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) became necessary when a gap between investigators and prosecutors of the NPF and DPP-FMOJ was discovered by the Investigation and Prosecution Sub-Committee of the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee (ACJMC) inaugurated in December 2017, by Hon. Justice Ishaq Bello the former Chief Judge of the FCT to enhance inter-agency cooperation amongst law enforcement agencies. This in turn led to the inauguration of an NPF-DPP-FMOJ focal group by Hon. Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, in May 2022 to formalize bilateral cooperation between NPF & DPP-FMOJ.