A/HRC/7/3/Add.4 page 19 Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.4), have documented and concluded that torture is widespread in the country.13 That the conditions in detention are appalling is similarly well known. 66. It is fact that Nigerian law enforcement is seriously under-resourced and at the same time confronted with a high rate of violent crime. Consequently, adequate training is lacking, corruption is endemic, and the cadres, emboldened by a culture of impunity for torture, are prone to heavy-handed tactics in a criminal justice system which relies heavily on confessions. But the roots of the problem cut a wider swathe. The Special Rapporteur concurs fully with the analysis of the Special Rapporteur on summary, arbitrary and extrajudicial executions, who carried out a visit to the country in 2005: There is no single entry point for reformers of the dismally inadequate Nigerian criminal justice system. Virtually every component part of the system functions badly. The result is a vicious circle in which each group contributing to the problem is content to blame others. Thus for example, police officers complain about a lack of resources, but the politicians complain that the police are thugs and their performance undeserving of increased resources. The judiciary blames the prison system and the police for the scandalous number of uncompleted cases, while the police observe that arresting robbers is futile because the courts will never convict them. It is essential to understand the vicious cycle of blame and for all actors to acknowledge their own responsibilities (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.4, para. 88).14 67. The Special Rapporteur cannot emphasize enough that Nigerians themselves have exhaustively identified the nature and scale of these problems. Indeed in August 2005, President Obasanjo acknowledged the severity of the problem of torture in the country.15 Further, Nigerians have already come up with the way forward. One needs only to pore over the 13 See also Human Rights Watch, Rest in Pieces, Police Torture and Deaths in Custody in Nigeria, July 2005. 14 This is echoed in the Report of the Presidential Committee on Police Reform, which states: “... there are some factors, organizations, and institutions that tend to affect the effectiveness and efficiency of the police in the discharge of its statutory responsibilities. For the Police to operate maximally and meet the expectations of the public, these institutions must play their part in such a way that they will help rather than hinder the efficiency of the Police … institutions such as the Prisons and the Judiciary, which together with the police make up the Criminal Justice System have to be reformed to ensure a harmonious working relationship with the reformed Nigeria Police …” (pp. 179-180). 15 See the President’s opening address in Ehindero, S.G., and Alemika, E.E.O. (eds.), Human Rights and Law Enforcement in Nigeria, Proceedings at a national workshop, 18-19 August 2005, 2005, which contains, among other things, discussions on patterns of human rights violations by law enforcement agencies in Nigeria, human rights abuse by police, etiology of police brutality in Nigeria, as well as recommendations.