An agenda for the new Chief Justice of Nigeria

Amid the top situation of judicial authorization since Nigeria’s independency successful 1960, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu connected August 23, 2024 swore successful an Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). For the caller Chief Justice, this situation is besides an accidental to articulate an docket for betterment that tin reconstruct nationalist spot successful the judiciary.

Such an docket indispensable code the following: ensuring merit-based judicial appointments;
addressing the occupation of maltreatment of interim injunctions, ex-parte orders, and conflicting judgments; enhancing judicial subject and accountability; addressing the situation of governmental cases, predetermination petitions, and judicialisation of politics; and betterment of the Supreme Court.

Judicial appointments
The National Judicial Council (NJC), which oversees judicial appointments and is led by the CJN, has been severely criticised for mishandling judicial appointments. In 2020, for instance, it authorised 15 vacancies for the Federal Capital Territory High Court but nominated 34 for appointment.

The NJC has besides been accused of retrenching its Procedural Rules for judicial appointments, thereby undermining merit-based appointments; compromising judicial integrity; and breeding a nonaccomplishment of assurance successful the judiciary.

Against this background, it is of the utmost value that the caller CJN commits explicitly to a argumentation of restoring integrity and merit to judicial appointments done the instauration of transparent processes of advertisement of vacancies; information of candidates, interviews, short-listing, and selection.

Conflicting judgments and maltreatment of interim injunctions
Rule 3 (3.5) of the Judicial Code of Conduct provides that “a Judicial Officer indispensable debar the maltreatment of the powerfulness of issuing interim injunctions, ex parte.” Although the standards governing interim injunctions are precise good established successful Nigeria, these are often either disregarded oregon abused without consequences. Equally, courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction routinely contented conflicting orders thatseem astir calculated to harm the instauration of the judiciary.
It is suggested that:

Priority should beryllium accorded to monitoring and reporting interim oregon ex parte orders by proceedings judges.There should besides beryllium wide consequences attached to a breach of the Judicial Code of Conduct.

Judicial appraisals should beryllium some quantitative and qualitative. Accordingly, they should proactively code grounds of ethical deficits successful the enactment oregon output of judges, focusing connected adherence to ethical guidelines and the prime of judicial decisions.

There should beryllium wide Practice Directions connected the absorption of jurisdictional overlaps. The operation and scope of specified overlaps should beryllium discussed astatine the All Nigerian Judges Conference and the Practice Directions should beryllium azygous crossed each the tribunal systems successful the country.

The NJC should found a cardinal database oregon easy searchable level for judges to stock accusation connected ongoing cases.

Discipline and accountability
Preserving the dignity and integrity of the judiciary hinges connected upholding subject and accountability which is successful crook indispensable for preserving the organization authorization of the judicial branch. If the judiciary lacks credibility, its authorization suffers irredeemably. Tragically, this eventuality whitethorn already beryllium upon us.

A caller survey by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) finds the judiciary arsenic the recipient of the highest per capita rates of bribery, up of some the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Customs Service. The harm that this does to the organization credibility and authorization of the judiciary is incalculable. To reverse this, it is suggested that:

Disciplinary processes wrong the judiciary should beryllium some punctual and decisive and dispositions should beryllium calibrated to beryllium proportionate to the seriousness of the misconduct found.

Reports connected disciplinary investigations by the NJC should routinely beryllium transmitted to instrumentality enforcement agencies for follow-up.

The CJN should initiate nationalist consultation starring wrong six months to an announcement of measures designed to code the escalating patterns of judicial corruption arsenic documented by the UNODC-NBS Corruption successful Nigeria Report 2024.

Election petitions and governmental cases
Political cases and predetermination petitionsnow progressively endanger the foundations of fairness connected which the judicial strategy should beryllium anchored. Of 248 judgments issued by the Supreme Court successful the past judicial year, 74 oregon astir 30 per cent were “political cases.” At a akin occasion, lone 2 years ago, his predecessor reported that the court’s portfolio of 269 appeals disposed of included 139 civilian appeals, 102 transgression appeals, and 28 “political cases.”

The measurement of predetermination petitions has go an adverse complaint connected the credibility of the judiciary and an intolerable load connected some judges and non-political tribunal users alike. Underlying this load is simply a judiciary that has installed itself arsenic the sole dispenser of electoral mandates, with judges routinely substituting their views for the votes of the radical contrary to the considered recommendations of 2 statesmanlike panels connected electoral betterment led respectively by erstwhile Supreme Court Justice, Bolarinwa Babalakin successful 1986 and by erstwhile Chief Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais successful 2008.
It is suggested that:

The Chief Justice should initiate betterment of the predetermination quality solution strategy to guarantee the implementation of the Babalakin Commission and Uwais Panel recommendations concerning the request for Courts to respect and not subvert the volition of the radical successful elections.

The class of “political” cases should beryllium reviewed and tribunal systems should beryllium encouraged to found Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms for governmental disputes.

Consideration should beryllium fixed to utilising retired elder judges for the medication of predetermination quality resolution, truthful that serving judges whitethorn beryllium preserved for regular tribunal work.

Election petitions should beryllium disposed of earlier inauguration. The existent signifier whereby candidates are sworn successful contempt pending petitions against them facilitates judicial capture.

Reforming the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is overburdened and its Justices are paying for this with their lives. In the 30 months from the opening of 2021 to the mediate of 2023, 3 Justices of the Supreme Court tragically died successful service. This play coincided with a revolt by Justices against the conditions of enactment and judicial well-being astatine the Supreme Court. These 2 developments underscore precise intelligibly the urgent request for betterment of the Supreme Court.

As the apex court, the Supreme Court should settee the astir rarefied questions of instrumentality and ineligible argumentation successful Nigeria. Instead, it is burdened with inconsequential appeals and crippled by precedence to governmental cases. The effect is simply a tribunal with an ungovernabledocket which besides endangers the law committedness of just proceedings “within a tenable time.” Structural and procedural enhancements needed to amended the ratio and effectiveness of the Supreme Court volition include:
The National Assembly should reappraisal and re-enact the Supreme Court Act and amend the Constitution to bounds the kinds of cases oregon appeals that tin beryllium introduced to the Supreme Court.

The afloat digitisation of the Supreme Court is overdue. Judgments should beryllium publically disposable connected the time they are delivered and it should beryllium imaginable to bash filings astatine the tribunal remotely.
The Court needs to instrumentality a structured strategy of judicial clerkships which would assistance to relieve Justices of immoderate of the tedium of probe and writing.

Conclusion
Far from being exhaustive, this five-point docket lone highlights pressing priorities for the incoming CJN. There stay important issues, specified arsenic the question of whether the NJC has continuing relevance; what should beryllium its creation (if it continues to exist), and whether oregon not it should proceed to co-exist arsenic it presently does with the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).

As the African Commission connected Human and Peoples’ Rights declared successful 2009: “Courts request the spot of the radical to support their authorization and legitimacy. The credibility of the courts indispensable not beryllium weakened by the cognition that they tin beryllium influenced by immoderate outer pressure.” Success successful judicial betterment volition beryllium connected engaging a wide constituency of stakeholders, particularly citizens, civilian society, and tribunal users. By fostering a collaborative attack to judicial reform, the CJN tin conception the foundations for reclaiming nationalist trust.

The measures suggested present tin reverse inefficiencies; retrench renegades from the system;and reposition the judiciary arsenic an instauration acceptable for the changing scenery of a analyzable governmental economy.

By implementing these changes, the caller CJN tin rebuild nationalist confidence; enactment the judiciary connected way towards credibility; and warrant a bequest that volition beryllium evergreen astatine the extremity of her tenure.

This weeks nonfiction was co-authored by Prof. Ernest Ojukwu, SAN, a erstwhile Deputy Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof. Sam Erugo, SAN, erstwhile Dean of Law, Abia State University; Prof. Odinkalu teaches astatine the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy astatine Tufts University; and Mbasekei Martin Obono, a lawyer and Executive Director of TAP Nitiative.