COMMUNICATION OF AN INTERPRETER AND FAIR TRIAL UNDER NIGERIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM BY DR. OGWEZZY MICHAEL. C DEPARTMENT OF JURISPRUDENCE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, FACULTY OF LAW, ADEKUNLE AJASIN UNIVERSITY, ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Introduction Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999, ensures the fair trial of accused persons in criminal matters. A breach of any of the constitutional safeguards will vitiate a trial and may consequently nullify the entire proceeding depending on the degree of breach. In Nigeria, English language is the official language of all the courts and all proceedings are conducted in English language. If an accused person does not understand English an interpreter is provided by the government. Lack of an interpreter to interpret the charges of an accused person who is an illiterate from English language to an indigenous language understandable by him will definitely stall a criminal proceeding. Failure to provide an interpreter has always been treated as a matter of procedure and a conviction would not be disturbed on appeal except it can be shown that the failure to provide an interpreter led to miscarriage of justice.

Necessity of an Interpreter and Fair Trials under Nigerian Criminal Justice System It is a trite law that where an accused person does not understand the official language of the Court, an interpreter must be provided for him without any expense Lawson v. Afani Continental Co. (Nig) Ltd, (2002) FWLR (Pt. 302) 176 at The interpreter must interpret correctly to the accused person anything said in the language of the court which he does not understand. Simultaneously, there should be adequate interpretation to the Court anything said by the accused person. Provision of an interpreter by the Court is one of the necessary Constitutional safeguard put in place to ensure that the right to fair hearing is guaranteed under Section 36(6)(e) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Section 36(e) should also be read together with subsection (6)(a) of the Constitution which guarantees the right of the accused to be informed promptly in the language that he or she understands and in detail of the nature of the offence alleged to have been committed.

Right of an Accused Person to be informed of the Offence Charged by the State The practice procedure in Nigeria is that when a person is accused of a criminal offence and charged before any Court he has an unfettered right to have a full knowledge in the language he understands of why he is being charged. Section 35(3) of the CFRN 1999 provides that “any person who is arrested or detained shall be informed in writing of the offence within twenty-four hours (and in a language that he understands) of the fact and ground for his arrest or detention”. While Section 36(6)(e) deals with verbal communication, Section 35(3) deals with communication in writing. The later provision proceeds or to a greater extent. Where an accused person is illiterate and do not understand English Language an interpreter is always required to interprete to him in a language that he understands. See Ogunye v. State. (1999) 5 NWLR 553

English Language as the Official Languages of Nigerian Courts The lingua franca of Nigerian Superior Courts of record is English language (Damina v. State (1995) 8 NWLR (Pt. 415) 513). Iguh, J.S.C stated that, “I cannot over-emphasis the fact and it is a matter of common knowledge and notoriety of which judicial notice, ought now, to be taken, that the lingua franca in this country is English and that this is the official language employed in all proceedings before the superior courts of records throughout Nigeria”. It is only when litigants do not understand English that the Courts communicate with through an interpreter who understands the native language of both the litigant and as well as English”. Where an illiterate litigant, accused person or witness speaks to the Court in vernacular through a Court interpreter, the proceedings are always conducted in English for the benefit of the presiding judge, all learned counsel present, the court officials and the general public in court …”

Right to be Provided with an Interpreter Section 36(6)(e) provides that, “every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be entitled to have, without payments, the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand the language used at the trial of the offence and this is the duty of the court. The right to an interpreter is not applicable in every case; it only becomes applicable where the accused person cannot understand the language used at the trial of the offence.

Practice Procedure for the Valid Requirement of Communication by an Interpreter under Nigeria Law Nigeria law requires that the communication of an interpreter in criminal trial can only be valid and judgment emanating there from be said, to be fair, if the interpreter was sworn on oath or solemnly affirmed and a note of this must be made in the records of the Court. It mandatory for the record of any criminal proceeding for which an interpreter has been used, to state the name of the interpreter. (Section 242 of Nigerian Criminal Procedure Code). The above provision states that “when the service of an interpreter is required by any Court for the interpretation of any evidence or statement, he shall be bound by oath or solemn affirmation to state the true interpretation of the evidence or statement”.

Competency of an Interpreter Interpretation is the oral conversion of information from one language to another. Translation which involves converting a written document from one language to another. There is no legal provision under Nigerian laws as to the measure of the adequacy of an interpreter. It is implied that the interpreter must be versatile in the indigenous language of the accused person and English language. He must be proficient in the language understood by the accused person as well as the language he is engaged to interpret to the accused person. There must not be an unfair or inadequate presentation of facts.

Need for Professional Standards to be set for both the Interpreters and the Translators of Court Proceedings in Nigeria There is need for professional standards to be set for both the interpreters and the translators of court proceedings in order to achieve fairness in legal matters addressed by courts. In Nigerian judicial setting, there is no remarkable distinction between the term translator and interpreter. Both means having the ability to understand two languages in a simultaneous manner. An interpreter should, be chosen based on his/her command of the language in which the Court proceedings is conducted. Therefore should, ideally, have the requisite legal knowledge, be trustworthy and independent and above all be certified by a professional body. Experience from other jurisdictions like shows that the error rate of untrained interpreters is so high as to make their use more dangerous in some circumstances than no interpreter at all, it lends a false sense of security to both provider and client that accurate communication is actually taking place.

Conclusion and Recommendations The benefit of communication and fairness in legal settings requires that all accused persons in any criminal justice system must be provided with an interpreter as long they do not understand the language of the Court. This requirement is fundamental to the sustenance of the rule of fair hearing. Nigeria government should set up Translators’ and Interpreters’institutes for training interpreters for Nigerian Courts Establish professional bodies for licensing and regulating those deemed to be competent in interpreting Nigerian languages in Court rooms situations. The reason is because the act of legal communication through the service of an interpreter should be highly skillful and therefore requires specialist training in an institution. Court interpreter has to deal with complex legal terms or jargons and poor interpreting can obviously mar or truncate the success of the case of an accused person who does not understand the language of the Courts.

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