19th October, 2016
The Kaduna State Government is to establish three new centers to cater for victims of sexual assault in the state.
This is contained in the state’s 2017 budget document for of the judiciary, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria [NAN] in Kaduna on Wednesday.
A total of N3.6 billion was allocated to the justice sector out of the N215.9 billion budget of the state in 2017.
The document indicated that N30 million would be used to establish the three additional Sexual Assault Centres.
The budget also contains the provision of N35.7 million earmarked for the training of prison inmates to acquire life-long skills, which they could rely on to earn a living after their release.
The document, obtained from the Ministry for Budget and Planning, indicated that N1.2 billion was for capital expenditure and 2.4 billion for recurrent services.
About N18.8 million was set aside for the training of judicial officers, N50 million for law review, N4.3 million for setting up of mediation centers and N4.3 million for online publication of state laws.
“N54 million would be spent on the purchase of law books and installation of software, N13.5 million on briefs assigned to private prosecutors, N10 million on e-data storage system and N2.8 million on development of none custodial sentencing program.”
The document also indicated that out of the N236 million allocated for capital expenditure to the Sharia Court, N105 million would be used to construct Sharia Courts at Pambegua, Jere, Sabon Birni and an Inspectorate Division Headquarters.
It also set aside N95 million for the rehabilitation and repairs of sharia court buildings.
Similarly, the state High Court of Justice was allocated N328.3 million for capital expenditure and N77.5 million for recurrent expenditure.
Under its capital expenditure, N162 million was for the construction of a High Court complex at Barnawa, N82 million for construction of Magistrates’ Courts across the state, N33.7 million for automation of high court and N50 million for e-judiciary
A breakdown of the budget for the Customary Court of Appeal shows that N263 million was earmarked for capital expenditure and N622.9 billion for recurrent.
The major allocations were for the computerization of court proceedings, purchase of law books and rehabilitation of court buildings.
“N96 million is for construction and fencing of Customary Court of Appeal Complex Kafanchan (On-going), N65 million for construction and fencing of Customary Courts at Ikara, Isah, Dan Alhaji and Giwa, and N27 million for renovation and fencing of existing Customary Courts.”
The state Judicial Service Commission was allocated N149.5 million for the construction of its office complex.