Senate passes bill on protection of witnesses

The Senate on Wednesday passed the Witness Protection and Management Bill, 2022.

The followed the adoption of a report by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters at the plenary in Abuja.

The Chairman of the committee, Opeyemi Bamidele, who presented the report, said the bill seeks to provide the legal and institutional framework on the efforts to protect witnesses and related persons on disclosures made for public interest.

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He said: “The bill also seeks to provide support, management and protection of witnesses, which will be implemented by all the public institutions vested with powers to investigate and/or prosecute criminal cases.

“This programme is a universally accepted concept for the protection of witnesses, who are willing to provide information and evidence for the purpose of enhancing the judicial system and whose lives are threatened as a result thereof.”

The upper legislative chamber passed the bill after a clause-by-clause consideration of the report by the Committee of the Whole.

By Abdulkabeer Ambali

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