Forensic Science is a relatively new field of study. Some decades back, it was not too commonplace to hear of forensic science.
It came into prominence at the turn of the century with the rise in crime due to a spike in the evolution of devices through which crimes can be covered. Law enforcement agencies had a tough time trying to unravel some of the sophisticated and intractable crimes across the world. This set scientists in motion to figure out a way to stem the tide of criminality.
Dr Victoria Ayishetu Enape Pro term President during Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals in Nigeria
Visit to Attorney General of the Federation
What is today known as forensic science is a multidimensional and multifaceted aspect of science. Its scope and ambit of operation revolve around many disciplines. They include physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and engineering for evidence analysis, which are helpful and applied in criminal and civil laws that are enforced by law enforcement agencies.
Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria (CIFIPN) Pro term President Dr Mrs Victorial Ayishetu Enape with President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan
Without doubt there is an upsurge in the crime rate in Nigeria. In spite of interventionist measures put in place by the government to salvage the situation, not much has been achieved. The consequences, therefore, have been a state of despair and hopelessness because of the level of sophistication and ingenuity with which crime is carried out.
However, it has been discovered that the missing link in the fight against corruption in the country, is traceable to the absence of forensic evidence in the Nigeria criminal justice system. This seeming lacuna, apparently, has rendered our justice system ineffective.
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As such, the country has witnessed myriad of unresolved high profile cases of fraud and corrupt practices, which have been swept under the carpet or thrown-out in the past, due to
absence of evidence to prosecute such cases.
This is also the reason why in a bureaucratic organization or government circle, even when fraud experts perceive corruption, it is often difficult for them to deal with it.
Nevertheless, the introduction of forensic investigation, which is the underlying principle behind the establishment of the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative
Professionals of Nigeria, is intended to bridge the gap and provide the needed platform to carry out such investigations with ease and give impetus to the fight against corruption.
This is because forensic science has evolved over time, due to the dynamic nature of knowledge and skills acquisition, which can be technically applied to detect, identify and prosecute offenders of financials crimes and other fraud-related issues, as against the orthodox practices, which has constrained robust investigations, over the years. It is a common knowledge that corruption, both at the local and international level has reached its highest crescendo and has been at the front burner of public discourse for a long time in this country.
Virtually, in every sector of the nation’s economy, corruption has permeated to an unimaginable proportion and this has given rise to poor
public policy, bad governance, misappropriation of public resources, which has impaired development of the public and private sectors of the economy.
This accounts for the reason why Nigeria has consistently been rated by Transparency International (TI) among the most corrupt
nations in the world. Therefore, as patriotic citizens of this country, there is something we must do to change this negative connotation about our beloved country, and part of that effort is the introduction of our Institute, which the Senate in its wisdom has recognized and gave it an accelerated passage in order to reposition the nation’s anti-corruption drive, for effectiveness and efficiency.
Furthermore, it is trite to state that forensic profession is a very wide and all-encompassing field of profession that requires proper regulation and a high level of professionalism, as its activities cut across every facet of
human endeavors.
The field includes; but not limited to the following: forensic toxicology; forensic investigation; forensic auditing; digital forensics and cybercrimes; forensic autopsy; forensic law; forensic accounting; amongst others.
With this new technology, it is believed that Nigeria would join the rest of the world in using technology to track down criminal elements and their criminality.