US embassy cable - 05ABUJA1676

UNCLAS ABUJA 001676 
 
SIPDIS 
 
State for ECA/PE/V/G/A EButler and CDyson; AF/PD 
Lagos for PAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, SCUL, OEXC, NI 
SUBJECT: IVLP Returnee Spearheads Judicial Reforms in 
Nigeria:                         GPRA Report on FY-05 
AFRP "Women and the Law" 
        July 11 - 29, 2005 
 
 
  1.   Summary: Ms. Faustinah I. Kola-Olalere, Chair of 
     Magistrate Association of Nigeria (MAN) returned from 
     her IVLP program with a consuming passion: 
     transforming Nigeria's courts emphasis on punishment 
     to correction and reformation. She hopes this new 
     emphasis would reduce Nigeria's crime rate by fifty 
     percent.  Looking ahead, she hopes that there will be 
     separate prisons and reformatory centers established 
     for women before her career ends in 20 years. End 
     summary. 
 
  2.   Date: July 11 - 30, 2005 
          Fiscal Year: FY - 2005 
          Quarter: Fourth 
 
   3. Ms. Kola-Olalere is a Magistrate in the city of 
Ilorin,   Kwara State, in central Nigeria. She has 
already begun bestowing corrective and reformatory 
judgments as opposed to punitive judgments. She is 
conveying this message to her colleagues in the 
Magistrate Association of Nigeria (MAN). Given that 
Magistrates handle over 80% of litigations in Nigeria, 
Post is hopeful that     Ms. Kola-Olalere's crusade 
will have a multiplier effect and spur judicial 
reforms, which will result in promoting democracy in 
Nigeria. 
 
  4.   Although Ms. Kola-Olalere had challenges on the 
     return leg of her journey, because her U.S. visa did 
     not provide sufficient travel time, her overall 
     impressions of the program was very good. She was full 
     of praises for ECA staff, ELOs, and host family, Jerry 
     and Mary Jordan, who welcomed her in Dallas for three 
     additional days while her travel was being arranged. 
 
       CAMPBELL