The Vice-Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Professor Sa’adatu Hassan Liman on Tuesday 2nd July 2024 declared open a Public Lecture organised by the Faculty of Law. The Public Lecture which took place at the SPGS Auditorium with the theme “Plea Bargaining And Sentencing Guidelines In the Context of Restorative Justice: The U.S. Experience” was held in collaboration with the US Embassy, Abuja, and had International speakers from the University of California, College of Law, San Francisco, United States.
The keynote speaker Demarris R. Evans who is a Deputy District Attorney, Alameda County, and Visiting Lecturer in Race and Resistance Studies, San Francisco State University, United States delivered a lecture titled a “New Paradigm For Public Safety”. In like manner, Professor Jessica Vapnek, Associate Dean of the MLS programme, Director of the International Development Law Centre and Professor of Practice College of Law, University of California, San Francisco, United States delivered a lecture on the essentials, protocols and benefits of studying in the United States.
The event also featured a brief technical presentation on the Nigerian Perspective on Plea Bargain with submission from the former Dean of the Faculty, Professor Maxwell Gidado, SAN, on the “Legislative Interventions in Plea Bargain and Sentencing Guidelines in Nigeria”. The Dean of the Faculty, Professor Elijah Oluwatoyin Okebukola spoke on “Technical Implementation of Plea Bargain and Sentencing Guidelines in Nigeria”, while the Deputy Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Halima Doma Kutigi spoke on “Contextualising Plea Barganing and Sentencing Guidelines in Restorative Justice in Nigeria”. A panel session to attend to enquiries and remarks by the audience was moderated by the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, Makurdi Division, Hon. Justice Diobele Abraham Georgewill.
There were goodwill remarks from the Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, Hon. Justice Aisha Bashir, represented by Hon. Justice Abdullahi Ozegya, the Hon. Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice of Nasarawa State, Barrister Labaran Magaji, and the Emir of Keffi, HRH, Alh. Dr. Shehu Chindo Yamusa III, represented by the Wambain Keffi, Alh. Ibrahim Audu, amongst many important dignitaries who graced the occasion.
Information and Protocol Unit, 2024.