The National Judicial Council (NJC) has been urged to initiate new measures aimed at improvising efficiency in the operation of courts in the country.
One of such measure, it recommended, is for the production of a time template to guide courts on sitting schedule and how long court businesses should be conducted daily.
These are part of the recommendations contained in a report presented in Abuja yesterday by a group, Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative (otherwise known as Partners West Africa, Nigeria – PWAN).
Partners West Africa’s Programme Manager, Barbara Maigari said the report contained findings of the group’s court observation research process carried out in courts in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Kano between October and November this year.
Maigari, who argued that the decision on how long courts should sit in a day should not be left to the discretion of a judge, advocated a collaboration between the NJC and state Chief Judges or other heads of courts.
Explaining the experience of the group in the course of its research, Maigarai noted that in Abuja, courts commence sittings averagely by 9. 45 am.
“They went on recess at 11.35am, resumed from recess by 12.32pm and closed by 12.39pm. On average, court are sitting for about 2 hours, 58minutes.
“There are judges and magistrates that are doing good work, they work tirelessly to ensure that cases on cause list are attended to,” she said.
Retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Olufunmilayo Adekeye, who is a member of the group’s board, commended PWAN’s advocacy efforts aimed at ensuring positive changes in the court system.
She advised PWAN’s researchers to be more thorough in their subsequent studies.
PWAN’s Executive Director, Kemi Okenyodo was quoted in a statement as commending judges of the High Court of the FCT, who were rated high in many areas including good conduct, control of their court’s, respect and courtesy to lawyers, among others.
She urged the Judiciary to “improve on the management of transfer of judges, magistrates and their engagement in out of court assignments.