Author: The Nation

The Faculty of Law, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka has honoured its lecturer, Justice Rasul Olukolu, who was elevated from the classroom to the Bench of the Lagos Judiciary. It also honoured those conferred with the prestigious rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and thos that attained the position of law professors. ADEBISI ONANUGA reports.

Judges, Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs),  law lecturers and their friends and families converged on the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on May 7, for a lecture and dinner in honour of a judge of the Lagos Judiciary, Justice Rasul Olukolu, who was elevated from the school’s Law Faculty classroom to the Bench.

Other honourees at the event included faculty members conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) by the Legal Practitioners’ Priviledges Committee (LPPC). They were Prof. Abiola Sanni, Prof. Oludayo Amokaye and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecutor Wahab Shittu.

In addition, the faculty also honoured four of its members that recently attained the status of professors. They were Professors Wale Olawoyin, Gbenga Akingbehin, Iyabode Ogunniran and Oluwakemi Adekile.

 The event, organised by a committee of the faculty, held at the Raddison Blu Hotel, Isaac John, GRA, Ikeja.

The dinner/lecture titled, “Two sides of the Court: The bench and the Bar” was delivered by the Admin Judge, Ikeja Judicial Division, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye on behalf of Justice of the Court of Appeal, Olasumbo Goodluck.

Why Bench, Bar must partner

In the paper,  Justice Goodluck said leaders of the legal profession must be obligated to be patriotic, honest and not allow themselves to be swayed by momentary consideration or selfish interest.

She noted that when most people think of lawyers, they think of them as technical experts on law.

“In this role, lawyers help clients solve fundamental legal problems by applying existing law to particular facts using their legal analysis skills and their knowledge of the legal system and legal subject matter.

“Solving these legal problems requires traditional attributes of issue spotting, analytic power, ability to draft, negotiate, and advocate – but also an increasing degree of a highly sophisticated substantive and procedural expertise”, she said.

Justice Goodluck further noted that  in addition to being technical experts, lawyers are also often called upon to act counsel to their clients. In this role, lawyers must adhere to their ethical obligations as they serve the interest of the clients, ensure the course of justice is achieved and protecting the integrity of the legal profession.

“The relationship between the Bar and Bench should be of true partnership. They must work together in harmony, give mutual respect to each other and ensure that they are committed to the upliftment of the image of the legal profession. Members of the bar must see themselves as ministers in the temple of justice who have a duty not only to their client but also nation at large”, she advised.

Judge seeks end to wig, gown

The Justice of the Appeal Court advocated  that the culture of the wearing of wig and gown should be dispensed with in Nigeria.

Aside from the fact that it does not suitably fit our weather condition and that our courts lack the conducive infrastructure, such as functioning air condition or fans to help feel completely at ease while wearing it,  she argued that “the continuous wearing of wig and gown does not in any way contribute to the efficiency or effectiveness of our judicial system, as a matter of fact, it sometimes even contribute to its delay.

“For instance, there are many cases of lawyers who, having realised upon getting to the court that they had inadvertently left their wig and gown at home, would start running helter-skelter to borrow either from colleagues who have already done their cases or from vendors at the court premises, however, if such lawyer is not able to get substitute wig and gown, he will not be granted audience by the court and he can’t continue with his case for that day.”

She said if the legal profession insists on continuing with the tradition of wig and gown, it come up with court attire that fits our tradition and not those from a foreign culture. There are many indigenous materials from which the wig and gown can be made from, that will not only meet our climate but also bolster our cultural identity.

“It is therefore important for the Bar and Bench to look inwards by assessing the importance and continued necessity of the wig and gown to the legal profession”, she advised.

 Judgments becoming too complex to write

 Earlier, Justice Olutoyin Ipaye, in a remark, had told guest at the dinner that  the guest lecturer had called and requsted her to represent her at the event and subsequently forwarded the text of the lecture to her. She said upon receiving the text of the lecture, she was shocked to find out that it was 40 pages.

“I said to myself, I have done enough, of writing and reading judgments on a daily basis and I must confess, those judgments are increasingly becoming too complex to write and the materials I have to read is becoming too voluminous. Everybody just submit their professional duty into a written address and I am wondering what is going on.”

Justice Ipaye  recalled one of her colleagues, Justice Adesola Lateefa Okunnu, who had to read a judgment from 9.30 am to 9.20pm.and at the end of it all, imposed six years imprisonment on the convict.

” What is going on? Must judges kill themselves with the way we use our bodies? As an administrative judge, I quickly booked her for a spa treatment. I told her, “Desola, you need massage, spa treatment because I cannot understand how her body works, sitting for 12 hours delivering a judgment”, she said.

She said she was once in the university and that some of her students are now Professors, having spent 13 years in the university as an academia before her elevation to the bench of Lagos State Judiciary.

Challenges before judiciary

Justice Ipaye said the event provided her with an opportunity to discuss some of the challenges judges face  in the administration of justice?

She said Lagos has the largest judiciary and the state has the largest lecturers teaching law.

Lagos has a whole desk judiciary and the largest in terms depth of the numbers,  it has over 65 judges and the magistrates doubled that number with about 150 magistrates. We also have Presidents of customary courts, about 200 of them and many of them are legal practitioners.

Overburdened  Judiciary

The judge said Lagos handles an average of 11,000 cases in a year, noting that the work load ratio of an average judge in Lagos is about 358 cases thereby making every judge to be “working like locust.” According to her, the state ranks number three, next to Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Anambra State in terms of congestion of courts.

“If 11,000 cases are coming every year, there is no way we can cope because having 340 cases on your list is too much and that is was why I was trying to say that even if we sit 24/7 and work 18 hours a day, it is not possible to finish all this cases in good time.

“What that result is that, we now have increasing backlog. You know you don’t finish your case in this year, next year another set is coming in. 

“I also said that, at our registry, we monitor things. We are getting between 11,000 to 12,000 cases file every year. We are having about 60 Judges, we are not up to 100 judges. Assuming we are, some of us are retiring soon. When we are even at our largest in the continent, we have about 70 judges to deal with 11,000 cases. That already tells you that the figure is high and then every year, it will be adding more and you have not finish it , you deal with it because by next year, another set of cases will add to your backlog.”

She said they keep reviewing their rules to improve the situation but regretted that nothing is changing.

She wondered why India model of dispensation of justice is not introduced in Nigeria to ease the burden of administration of justice and justice delivery.

The judge however blamed lawyers for not taking good advantage of Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR) which could have reduced number of cases going into litigation and quicken justice delivery.

Performance evaluation

Justice Ipaye said: “All judges of superior courts will send in what we call performance evaluation form on quarterly basis, and we send it to National Judicial Council .We send it to the body called Committee of Performance Evaluation. It is one of the standing committees of the National Judicial Council.

“So they have a strong research section at the National Judicial Council and they are able to collate all the data. Over the time they have been collating the data and, as I mention, what that data showed us, at least for Lagos State, is that they have a case disposition rate of 13 per cent. Then we have a work load of ratio of 340 cases.

“What that means is that each judge has an average of 340 cases in their courts. Some will have a lot bit more and some will have a little bit less, you know it has a range. This figure put us at the third judiciary with the heaviest workload ratio.

Anambra State is ahead of us and then Rivers State. So if we are ranking it, we have the third congested court in the country.

Lagos judiciary most innovative

According to her, the Lagos judiciary is the most dynamic in terms of innovations and wondered what has been propelling them to innovate.

She said the most dynamic of these innovasions was the 2004 Civil Procedure Rules, and introduce the law of process, the pre-action protocols, uploading process, the idea of written briefs, case management processes and wondered what has been propelling them into making all these innovasions.

Justice Ipaye said the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) 2007 of the state became template for the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 at the federal level and for all the states in the federation. They introduce case management conferences to give greater control to judges.

She said they cleaned up the criminal procedures as well so that they can divert some cases away from the courts.

The judge lamented that despite all these innovations, they still have a system that is over burden in the judiciary.

She said they had to put on their thinking cap and that there was the need to get things right if Lagos is to continue to be a pace setter, centre of aquatic splendor.

Lagos State, she noted, is the smallest in terms of size but not the smallest in any other dimension.

The judge noted further that Lagos has “the highest concentration of Nigerians living in this small state. The  population of Lagos is also very large, about 20 to 22 million and the population is increasing every day. Just as the population is large, the GDP is also about N120 billion and contributing about 30 per cent of the national GDP.”

She said if Lagos is rated as a country, it would be the fifth largest  in terms of economic buoyancy.

Honour, a challenge to do more

 In a brief remark at the event, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Oyo State, Prof.  Oyelowo Oyewo, said that when people are given opportunity to be elevated, they are challenged to do more.

Oyewo said most of the problem with the legal profession occurred because the foundation has gone bad and stressed the need to address  the problems of the foundation.

Case for more academicians on the bench

Prof. Joseph Abugu in his remarks said the faculty, with about 20 professors and largest number of SANs that any faculty of Law in the nation’s faculty has ever produced, has the largest number of professors compared to other faculties in the institution.

Prof Abugu criticized method of appointment to the bench in the state characterized by high level politicking, when a look is taken at the high number of professors in the department.  He lamented that a lot of people who should not be on the bench are appointed.

He recalled that there were  times professors in the law faculties were to be appointed to the bench at the Appeal Court and Supreme court but that those in power thwarted the effort when they insisted that appointment to the upper levels of the court must follow career path. He recalled the appointment of Justice Fatai Elias who distinguished himself as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

He advised that more judges should be appointed to the bench of the Lagos Judiciary  from the academic in order to improve administration of Justice in the state.

Justice Yaquib Oshoala aligned himself with all the submissions of Justice Olutoyin Ipaye saying, ” I am not supposed to speak after a senior judge has spoken. I however congratulated all the honourees.”

Muniz Banire (SAN) congratulated the new Professors and SANs. He also celebrated the event with the Faculty noting that it has produced so much legal practitioners who are making their marks on the Lagos bench and in other jurisdiction.

Hardwork, recipe for honour

One of the honourees, Prof Abiola Sanni, in his remarks, said they have been encouraged to improve on their impact in terms of teaching, research and in public service. He thanked the Faculty for the honour done them by holding the reception.

Another of the honourees admonished the junior members of the faculty to be work hard saying that it is through such path that their reward would come. He also thanked his colleagues for coming together to honour them.

Earlier, the Dean Faculty of Law, Prof, Ige Bolodeoku explained that the event was organized to celebrate those colleagues who made achievement by dint of hard work.

He commended their predecessors in office for initiating such ceremony to celebrate them whenever such feats are achieved adding that the reason for the celebration would add value to them and the university as they move up professionally.

He said the event will also encourage them to improve on the capacity of what the department has to offer to the students of the faculty.

Nigeria is one of the beneficiary countries of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) since its inception in 2000, but the country has not recorded much success in its utilisation. Experts point the way forward, writes Deputy News Editor JOSEPH JIBUEZE.

As countries explore the most effective ways of promoting international human and labour rights standards beyond the traditional international instruments and mechanisms, most developed countries have found trade agreements or preferences as viable tools in this regard.

The belief is that by linking a country’s quest for economic survival to the human rights records, the nation would have the incentive to improve.

But one non-reciprocal (unilateral) preferential trade scheme that Nigeria has not been taking full advantage of is the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which came into force in 2000.

AGOA is extended by the United States of America (US) to Sub-Saharan African countries based on defined eligibility criteria.

In 2000, under President Bill Clinton’s leadership, the US government passed special trade laws to promote trade ties between the US, Africa, and the Caribbean. 

The AGOA is one such preferential trade law.

Nigeria continues to pass the annual review and retain its beneficiary status under AGOA, but it has not recorded much success in utilising the AGOA preferences to drive non-oil exports to the US markets, compared to other beneficiary countries.

There also remains the question of whether Nigeria has really performed well in making ‘continuous progress’ in meeting the eligibility requirements – especially in human and labour rights.  

Experts, who spoke in separate interviews with The Nation, have suggested ways Nigeria can take full advantage of the Act.

Missed economic benefits

Analysts have noted the economic importance of AGOA to a beneficiary country. 

They note that the US is not a major export destination for Nigerian products.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that Nigeria’s export to the US hovered between 1.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent of Nigeria’s total export between 2017 and 2021.

The US comes sixth, after India, Spain, France, Netherlands, and Canada. 

Compared to other beneficiaries, such as South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, etc, Nigeria has not performed well in utilising the AGOA preferences to deepen economic diversification and non-oil export.

From a human and labour rights perspective, the implication is not only that the citizens have been denied an opportunity for economic prosperity that could have accrued from export to the US market, but also that the potential of the AGOA as a tool of human rights advocacy is weakened.

This follows the principle that countries would modify their behaviour in compliance with an external obligation where the cost of non-compliance is high.

On the national implementation of the AGOA and the engagement of national stakeholders with the implantation, it was found that there is a total institutional disconnect between the human/labour rights goals of the AGOA and the trade goals.

Interviews with the officials of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) show that they are not part of the AGOA implementation in Nigeria.

The Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (FMITI) which leads policy engagement on the AGOA advised that questions about the trade elements be directed to the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) while questions about the human and labour rights elements should be directed to the NHRC.

There is no indication that the NHRC has ever participated in the Annual AGOA Forum which provides a platform for engagement between the Government of the US and the beneficiary countries. 

The FMITI and NEPC represent Nigeria in these engagements. 

The disconnect does not only occur at the public sector level but also at the civil society level. 

None of the civil society organisations interviewed has established the linkage between AGOA and the work they do on human and labour rights in Nigeria.

Both in the case of the public sector and the civil society organisations, the key reason for the disconnect is the lack of awareness of the nexus between AGOA eligibility and human/labour rights standards.

All human rights-focused civil society organisations interviewed have not had any activities or engagements related to the AGOA.  

Although Nigeria has maintained its AGOA eligibility since it was so designated in October 2000, there remain concerns about the human rights conditions in the country, especially some recurring violations.

Top of these concerns includes abuse of power by security agencies resulting in such acts as extrajudicial killing, unlawful arrest, detention, etc.

The abuse of power by security agencies is fostered in an environment of lack of accountability for wrongdoing.

Other recurring human rights violations include arrest, detention and persecution of journalists and members of civil society; domestic and gender-based violence; child rights abuse, including child labour and child trafficking; general labour rights abuses; and the merging issue of restrictions of access to the internet or specific internet media platforms.

An analysis of available global human and labour rights rankings shows that Nigeria fares worse than most AGOA beneficiary countries, especially Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana. 

Reasons for ineffectiveness

The reasons for the ineffectiveness of the AGOA in this regard include:  

• Stakeholders’ lack of awareness about the human and labour rights eligibility requirements attached to the AGOA.  

• The discretionary nature of AGOA preferences, which means that the US government determines what violations of human and labour rights merit withdrawal of eligibility. The government of the US seem to have set the ‘red line’ around the unconstitutional change of power and persistent gross violation of internationally recognised human rights, especially in armed internal conflict.  

• The lack of objective criteria for measuring human and labour rights performance in the beneficiary countries makes it difficult for human and labour rights advocates and even beneficiary countries to predict with certainty how the US would react to specific human and labour rights concerns.   

It has been found that the AGOA may remain a weak tool for human rights advocacy unless Nigeria improves its utilisation of the Act to make the cost of losing the trade preferences high enough to compel compliance with the human and labour rights eligibility requirements.  

Experts’ views

Experts have noted that countries that have developed and implemented AGOA strategies have benefited more from the AGOA, unlike Nigeria’s, whose attempt to develop an AGOA strategy in 2018 was inconclusive.

A lecturer in Law at the Huddersfield Business School, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom, Dr Oyeniyi Abe, noted that the lack of implementation of AGOA stems from a variety of reasons.

He told The Nation: “Principally, lack of adequate sensitisation, citizenship education, training, and awareness has affected the realisation of the trade agreements objectives. 

“A vast majority of stakeholders are oblivious of the benefits of AGOA and the inherent opportunities it presents.

“Some Nigerian businesses have reservations to these treaties as they consider trade liberalisation may expose local industries to unfair trade practices in overseas markets. 

“This was the same approach towards the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“National stakeholders, including national human rights institutions and civil societies, must provide adequate sensitisation to local businesses that allowing their products free access to the US markets will not injure their domestic business operations and development.

“Rather, it will expose their expertise, innovation and products to an economy as vast and diverse as the United States.”

Dr Abe, who is also a Research Associate at the Centre for Comparative Law in Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa, said Nigeria must reduce or remove any form of barrier that may prevent local businesses from preparing their goods for export under AGOA.

He added: “One critical area is administrative bottlenecks and bureaucracy, which stifles innovation and creativity. 

“It could dissuade local businesses from venturing into the opportunities AGOA presents.

“Other challenges could include broadly couched protectionist measures, local content requirements, weak administrative processing and judicial mechanisms to challenge unfair administrative decisions.

“National human rights institutions and civil society organisations must engage and consult widely with the business communities to identify their concerns, areas of interests, challenges, and opportunities inherent in these trade agreements.

“It is important to integrate human rights perspectives into economic policies to ensure that efforts to attract trade and foreign direct investment opportunities in key sectors do not result in lowering human rights standards. 

“Sensitisation must include proactive discussions around human rights-based approach to trade. Where this is lacking, businesses may feel reluctant to key into such agreements.”

An International Human Rights Lawyer and doctoral candidate at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa, Janet Gbam, noted that Nigeria has a relative advantage in becoming the largest exporter of agricultural products and apparel under the AGOA.

She said a lot of work needs to be done in promoting the competitiveness of non-oil exports.

Gbam noted that binding constraints such as inadequate infrastructure, poor power supply, lack of standards and quality assurance remain key challenges.  

On whether Nigeria has performed well in making ‘continuous progress’ in meeting the eligibility requirements – especially in the fields of human and labour rights, Gbam described the country’s performance as varied.

She told The Nation: “While we have made progress in some areas, such as improving investment climate and access to funding for businesses, we still face challenges in meeting certain requirements relating to respect for the rule of law, human rights and labour rights standards.

“The government needs to intensify efforts to address these challenges, including through the effective implementation of laws and policies that protect human and labour rights.

“However, Nigeria can also diversify export away from oil and gas and take full advantage of the African market through initiatives such as the AfCFTA.

“The AfCFTA, a flagship project of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, aims to promote trade among African states by eliminating trade barriers, with the objective of boosting intra-African trade, particularly in value-added production and across all sectors of Africa’s economy, including agriculture, textiles, and manufacturing.”

Gbam, who has worked to promote and protect human rights by initiating, managing, and executing humanitarian, and human rights programs touching on racial, ethnic, gender, and socio-economic issues for notable human rights organisations, believes implementing the AfCFTA could stimulate industrialisation, create jobs, and attract investments, thereby enhancing Africa’s competitiveness in the long run.

She added: “AGOA’s eligibility requirements have been seen to present challenges for small and medium enterprises willing to export to the US. Another approach would be to trade within Africa and ensure easy access to import and export across the continent.

“By leveraging the AfCFTA and other intra-African trade agreements, Nigeria could tap into the growing African market, diversify its exports, and reduce its dependence on oil and gas.

“This approach would require a commitment to investing in infrastructure, improving the business climate, and enhancing the skills of the workforce.”

Some recommendations

Deputy Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERA), Kolawole Oluwadare, whose organisation has been involved in the campaign for better utilisation of AGOA, made some recommendations in furtherance of the objective of making the Act a viable tool for human and labour rights advocacy.

He believes there was the need to reposition the AGOA as a viable tool for advancing human and labour rights.

“All stakeholders need to work together to reposition the AGOA as a tool for advancing human and labour rights in Nigeria, and other beneficiary countries.

“To achieve this goal, the US government must bring the AGOA human and labour rights eligibility requirements to the table in its engagement with the Government of Nigeria on human and labour rights. 

“There is a need to foster collaboration between the national state and non-state actors working in the field of trade and those in the field of human and labour rights.

“Trade policy institutions such as the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (FMITI) and the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) need to collaborate with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and non-state actors working on human and labour rights on all engagements on the AGOA.

“The present practice where only the trade policy institutions manage all engagements on the AGOA does not reflect the original purpose of the AGOA.”

Oluwadare said the (missed) AGOA opportunity should be used to drive awareness and capacity on the trade and human rights nexus, especially among the human and labour rights-focused non-state actors.

This, he said, would ensure that these actors can effectively engage with the process of implementation of the AGOA for its remaining few years and become ready to engage in subsequent trade agreements from a human rights perspective.  

Other lawyers speak

Beyond highlighting the human and labour rights concerns in the Biennial AGOA Implementation Reports, there is no record that the US government has attempted to use the threat of the withdrawal of AGOA eligibility to pressure Nigeria to address specific human rights concerns.

It seems correct, therefore, to say that, at least in the case of Nigeria, there is no record to show that the US government has mainstreamed the AGOA requirements in its engagement with the Nigerian government on human and labour rights issues.  

On how Nigeria can better enjoy the benefits of AGOA, a law teacher, Dr. Fassy Yusuf, noted that the Act followed complaints from African countries and others that the US and other developed nations were just interested in milking Africa by for instance, getting raw materials from the continent, converting them to manufactured goods and sending them back to us at a dictated price.

He said: “In essence, there was no value addition for Africa. Therefore, the United States, like Britain, Canada and France, decided that something must be done to reverse the trend. This was what led to the emergence of the AGOA.

“It was believed that serious African nations will seize the opportunity to add value to their production, and raw materials and be able to manufacture goods that would be acceptable to the American market.

“Unfortunately, many African countries, including Nigeria, do not add value to their production and as such it is not competitive. In essence, Nigeria has not seized the opportunity presented by this Act to penetrate the International market.

“What must be done to reverse the trend is for African countries to stop cutting corners and buy into total quality management. Whatever we are exporting must meet up with international standards. Therefore, our total quality management and the standard must be what they expect.

“Besides, we must also tackle the issue of corruption. It must be reduced to the barest minimum, otherwise, the volume of trade with the global community will be adversely affected.

“Corruption is so endemic in Nigeria that it is affecting almost everything that we do and until we are able to eliminate the menace, many things will continue to fall out of place.”

A senior lawyer, Seyi Arowosebe, noted that the AGOA, already in its framework, provides trade preferences for quota and duty-free entry into the USA for certain goods. 

He said strong adherence to international products packaging and standards, a strong manufacturing base, and adequate infrastructural provision are some of the things Nigeria can do to improve the utilisation of the Act.

He also advised that the Nigerian government must adopt and implement the National AGOA strategy.

Arowosebe said: “The strategy has been developed and validated by stakeholders. In addition, the government should ensure the integration of AGOA into the national planning and budgeting process.

“Nigeria should also ensure that export-related agencies collaborate to achieve the desired result of exporting under AGOA. 

“The NEPC-AGOA Desk, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Nigerian Export-Import Bank and Bank of Industry should synergise in addressing the challenges confronting AGOA implementation in Nigeria’s developed plan and strategy for post-2025.

“Nigeria is bedevilled with a poor institutional framework, poor governance, disregard for rule of law, and low quality of economic regulation and lack of freedom of expression. 

“These factors have hindered Nigeria from taking its rightful place in the comity of nations under the AGOA.

“Nigeria must take a bold step away from seeing her exports to be 90 per cent oil related. 

“The AGOA gives the opportunity to export more than 6000 products aside from oil.

“It is my belief that the Nigerian people have more heritage to export to the world. 

“Nigeria should now begin to embark on agricultural industrialisation and implement innovative financing models that cater to the needs of both low-income farmers and high-income processors.

“For Nigeria to thrive in the international business scene, it must begin to take the civil society seriously. It must be willing to operate transparently. 

“It must be willing to open its books and honour Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by CSOs and private citizens.

“The NHRC has a role to play in ensuring the rights of people no matter how trivial are respected and enforced to the letter. It must not be relegated to the backstage in the implementation of AGOA.”

President-elect Bola Tinubu’s promise to reform the Judiciary for efficiency and enhance judicial officers’ welfare has been commended. But law experts are hopeful that he will not renege. ERIC IKHILAE reports.

Advocates for improved welfare for judicial officers have got a major ally in the person of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.

At a recent outing, Tinubu promised to ensure a reformed judiciary that will guarantee, among others, enhanced welfare for judges, discourage tendencies for corrupt practices and ensure prompt and efficient service delivery.

Tinubu, who spoke in Port-Harcourt, said: “You don’t expect your judges to live in squalor, to operate in squalor to dispense justice in squalor.  This is part of the changes necessary in our policy think-tank.

“We must fight corruption and we definitely must look at the other side of the coin. If you don’t want your judges to be corrupt, you have got to pay attention to their welfare.

“If you want fair dispensation of justice; you don’t want them to operate in hazardous condition, let’s think value for value.”

President-elect’s judicial plan

Observers note that Tinubu’s statement at the Port-Harcourt outing, reinforces the judicial reform promised in his manifesto, released before the February 25 presidential election.

The manifesto, titled: “Renewed Hope 2023 – Action Plan for a Better Nigeria”, has a section devoted to judicial reform. It is sub-titled: “Judicial reform: growth and investment encouraged by the rule of law.”

As stated in the manifesto, the reform would be hinged on four key pillars, to be driven by some specific policy proposals

The planned judicial reform, it was explained, is informed by the realisation that economic growth is neither sustainable nor equitable without the rule of law.

The reform, it was further explained, is driven by the belief that a well-functioning judicial system enables the state to regulate the economy prudently and impartially, knowing that “when laws and legal institutions operate effectively and fairly, the end products are investment, jobs, and the creation of wealth.”

According to the manifesto, the four pillars on which the planned judicial reform will rest are: judicial independence and integrity; respect for rule of law; access to justice, and equality before the law.

The manifesto particularly assured of plans to take necessary steps to guarantee the financial and administrative independence of the Judiciary, in addition to enhancing the welfare and remuneration of federal judicial officers.

Tinubu’s history of judicial reforms

A lawyer, Charles Ukuh, recounted that Tinubu took similar steps during his days as the Governor of Lagos State.

Ukuh said Tinubu’s administration in Lagos brought about changes in the judicial process, which improved the state’s justice delivery system.

“The High Court rules were rewritten, administrative procedures were computerised, judges’ welfare was attended to and citizen mediation centres were set up to resolve disputes out of court.

“These resulted in a more efficient, accessible and fair civil justice system,” Ukuh said.

As part of the reform process, the Tinubu administration in Lagos, in year 2000 set up five free Citizen Mediation Centres, as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, as part of measures to aid access to justice.

On 22 May 2001, the Lagos Judicial Services Commission (LJSC) appointed 26 judges from diverse backgrounds to the High Court, bringing the number of judges to 50 and reducing the average age of judges from 55 to 44.

A rules committee was inaugurated to oversee the court’s Civil Procedure Rules. Between April 2002 and early 2003, the committee met, at least weekly, to review the existing rules.

In January 2005, the Court Automation Information System (CAIS) went live and began to assign cases randomly to judges, and to calculate court fees automatically.

The automation of the system helped to reduce the case backlog and delays earlier associated with the court.

A former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Babatunde Ogala (SAN) attested to the fact of the Tinubu inspired reforms in the Lagos Judiciary.

Ogala argued that Tinubu possesses the capacity to carry through the reforms he is planning for the Judiciary having done the same as the Governor of Lagos State.

He spoke about how Tinubu improved all aspects of the state’s Judiciary, including infrastructure development, staff welfare, the introduction of technologies, increasing access to justice for the indigents (with the creation of the Office of the Public Defender) and the adoption of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (with the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse initiative).

Ogala, a former National Legal Adviser to the APC, stated that the main objective behind the planned reform is to create an environment where the judicial process would drive the economy itself.

“Everything that we have talked about here, from infrastructure to security, all boils down to the economic prosperity of Nigeria and Nigerians.

“And, without enabling laws, without the rules, you can be sure that nothing will get done.

“Even in security, there are rules of engagement. Investors, without the rule of law, will not come. For the local businessmen, they will not invest,” Ogala said.

He noted that the perception that the Judiciary is corrupt, which has impacted public confidence in the system, could be reversed with appropriate policy decisions.

Ogala, whose wife is a judge of the High Court of Lagos State, spoke about how the welfare and work conditions of judges in Lagos have continued to improve since Tinubu’s days as the state governor.

He said: “Even though the NJC is responsible for the payment of judges’ salaries, in Lagos, the moment you are appointed a judge of the High Court of Lagos State, the first things you get are your car key and the key to your house, which is a minimum of a duplex.

“And those houses are not official quarters, they are yours for life, you retire and you go with that property.

“So, there is no judge who would retire in Lagos, who would not have a permanent home thereafter.

“What does that do? Confidence. It reduces corruption. It reduces the temptation to do that which you ought not to do,” Ogala said.

Case for improved judges’ welfare

The agitation for improved welfare for judges and other court officials has been with us for a while now.

In 2019, while receiving members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights, then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Ibrahim Muhammad noted that the Judiciary was underfunded, with inadequate annual budgetary allocation.

”If you see the amount allocated to the Judiciary, it is far less than what is given to some ministries.

“Salaries of the judicial officers are also stale for over 12 years running, and I hope you would look at all that”, Justice Muhammad said.

In 2022, the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem re-echoed the complaint by Justice Muhammad.

Justice Dongban-Mensem said: “The salary structure for judicial officers and staff in Nigeria has consistently ranked poorly when compared to that of their counterparts in other African and commonwealth countries.

“The last time salaries of judicial officers were reviewed in Nigeria was via the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2008, which came into force on February 1, 2007.

“According to the Act, the Honourable, the Chief Justice of Nigeria’s annual basic salary is N 3,353,972.50 or N 279,497.71 monthly, while other Justices of the Supreme Court and the President of the Court of Appeal earn N 2,477,110.00 as basic annual salary or N 206,425.83 monthly.

“My brother Justices of the Court of Appeal, earn an annual basic salary of N 1,995,430.18 each or N166,285.84 monthly, exclusive of benefits and allowances.

“We, therefore, call upon the Federal and State Governments to live up to their obligations under the law.

“I also implore the governments of the federation and states to urgently review the salaries and allowances of judicial officers and staff.

“The salaries of Justices are static with no graduation as in the civil and public service. We have been on one salary grade for over 10 years now.

“I call on the government to increase allocations that will enable us to introduce technological innovations that will improve adjudication.”

Justices protest

In a leaked memo in June 2022, Justices of the Supreme Court expressed concern that budgetary allocations have not been increased in the last four years.

They complained that poor welfare was hindering the discharge of their jobs, noting that relevant Federal Government agencies, saddled with the responsibility of reviewing their salaries and allowances upward have kept them on the same salary for 14 years.

Some other issues raised in the memo included the non-replacement of dilapidated vehicles; accommodation problems; lack of drugs at the Supreme Court clinic; epileptic electricity supply to the Supreme Court; increase in electricity tariffs; no increase in the allowances for diesel; and lack of internet services in residences and chambers.

Earlier this year, at the 2023 budget defence session at the National Assembly, the Executive Secretary of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Ahmed Gambo Saleh also complained about inadequate funding and poor welfare.

Saleh said though the NJC has been able to assess 80 per cent of the 2022 budget, the inflation rate in the county had adverse effects on the budget performance of the Judicial Council in the country.

He said based on prevailing challenges plaguing the NJC, the budget proposal submitted to the Ministry of Finance was N338 billion, but the council was given the envelope of N150 billion.

“Although there is an increase of N30 billion in the budget compared to last year’s budget of N120 billion, in the real sense of it, there is no serious increase in the budget considering the level of inflation in the country.

“The appropriation for the Judiciary in this subsisting fiscal year is N120 billion. It is gratifying that out of this sum, we are so far able to assess 80 per cent of the fund.

“That notwithstanding, the current economic situation has adversely affected our budget implementation and performance because the subsisting budget was passed at a benchmark of N580 to a dollar as against over N700 it is now.

“If we need to achieve a milestone this year, we have to make an additional provision of over 20 per cent on the votes for us to be able to achieve milestone,” Gambo said.

Interventions

Bothered by the unsavoury state of affairs, Sebastine Hon (SAN) sued to compel the Federal Government and it’s relevant agencies to act.

In a judgment on Ju ly 15, Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae of the National Industrial Court in Abuja ordered the National Assembly, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to urgently initiate measures to ensure the upward review of the salaries and allowances of judges.

Obaseki-Osaghae noted that the current salaries and allowances of judicial officers in the country were not only abysmally low but embarrassing.

She ordered the Federal Government to henceforth pay N10m monthly to the CJN, N9m to other Justices of the Supreme Court, and N9m to the President of the Court of Appeal.

For other Justices of the Appellate Court and Chief Judges of the Federal and state High Courts, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the judge ordered a monthly payment of N8m.

For other judges of the Federal and states High Courts, she ordered that they should earn N7m.

The judge held that the refusal of the government to review the judicial officers’ salaries and allowances for 14 years was unconstitutional, unlawful and should be compelled to do the needful.

Justice Obaseki-Osaghae noted that it was unfortunate that Justices and judges, whose duty was to dispense justice, have been turned into victims of injustice in the country.

Also, in a bid to make the Federal Government act, the Body of Benchers (BOB) under the leadership of Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) also intervened.

Chief Olanipekun led a delegation of the body to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, during which a commitment was extracted from the President to ensure an improvement on judges’ welfare.

On how the event went, Chief Olanipekun said: “We were frank with the President. We told him everything. We also told him that if we don’t maintain justice, justice will undo us soon. We told him how we interfaced with Justices of the Supreme Court and what they told us about their working conditions.

“We told him (President Buhari) how bad things are with the Judiciary; that Justices are not encouraged, that they are underpaid. What they give to justices are peanuts when compared with the other arms of government.

“In fairness to Mr. President, perhaps, he did not know the gravity of the situation until I explained everything to him when we met him last Thursday.

“And, in fairness to him, he said there are three arms of government. He agreed that each of the three arms must be treated equitably and fairly. He said no one should be subjugated to the others, and no one should be treated as a slave.

“The way I see it today is that the Judiciary is being beaten and you are asking the Judiciary not to cry. The Judiciary is crying silently from within. You can hear the grumbling. You can see the tears of the Judiciary, though they are not coming out. The Judiciary is crying silently.

“The President gave his commitment voluntarily. It was in response to my address. He promised to take immediate action, and that for now, he is giving a directive to those in charge to dust the report of a committee that was submitted to him in 2018 and act, as we have requested.”

President Buhari’s promises

At the meeting with the Body of Benchers, Buhari promised to take prompt steps to address the issues raised, noting among others that the was a necessary stakeholder in the nation’s democratic Thursday

Acting on the assurance of the President, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, while commissioning the Nabo Graham-Douglass Campus of the Nigerian Law School in Port Harcourt on November 18, 2022, said the President directed he and the Chairman of Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission to promptly commence measures towards the realisation and implementation of enhanced salary and welfare scheme for the judicial officers in the country.

All eyes on RMAFC

Ukuh noted that since last November when Malami assured that the President has detected the RMAFC and the AGF to act on the request for an improved welfare for judges, the result is still being awaited.

He urged the incoming President to continue where the outgoing President’ stops at the end of his tenure.

Another lawyer Dr. Daniel Makolo urged the President-elect not to renege on his pledge, but to keep to his words.