Reimagining Restorative Justice in Nigerian Criminal Law: Theoretical Foundations and Institutional Design

Nigeria's criminal justice system remains predominantly retributive in orientation, characterised by adversarial trial procedures, punitive sentencing, high reoffending rates, and persistent prison overcrowding. Restorative justice approaches, which seek to repair harm by facilitating dialogue and agreement among offenders, victims, and affected communities, have been advocated as a humanising alternative that may be more culturally resonant with indigenous Nigerian dispute resolution traditions. This doctoral research develops original theoretical foundations and institutional design principles for a restorative justice system in Nigerian criminal law, making a foundational scholarly contribution at the intersection of criminal law theory, African jurisprudence, and justice system reform. A multi-method legal research methodology is employed, combining legal theory analysis drawing on Braithwaite's reintegrative shaming theory, Ubuntu jurisprudence, and Igbo and Yoruba indigenous restorative traditions with empirical field research in Anambra State and Ekiti State examining community-based justice mechanisms. Primary interviews were conducted with indigenous dispute resolution practitioners, National Judicial Council officials, and criminal law reformers. Secondary sources include restorative justice scholarship, African philosophy of punishment, and comparative restorative justice programme evaluations from New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa from 2018 to 2024. The research makes four original scholarly contributions: an Africanised Restorative Justice Theory calibrated to Nigerian pluralist legal culture; a Restorative Justice Institutional Design Framework for Nigeria; a proposed Restorative Justice Act; and normative criteria for evaluating restorative outcomes against constitutional justice requirements. Keywords: restorative justice, criminal law, African jurisprudence, indigenous dispute resolution, Nigeria.