The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ado-Ekiti Branch has urged President Bola Tinubu to muster the political will to reform the judicial system.
Its Chairman, Adetunji Fasanmi, lamented that the existing judicial system was no longer fashionable, adding that there was an urgent need for far-reaching reforms that would guarantee improved performance, enhanced accountability and judicial independence.
Fasanmi spoke in Ado-Ekiti, at a briefing heralding the branch’s 2023 Law Week with the theme:”The Law and the Economy: Finding a Pathway for a Prosperous Post-Election Nation Nigeria”.
He identified obsolete legislation, slow justice system, inadequate funding and process of appointing judges as the challenges affecting administration of justices in the country.
The NBA boss advised the Tinubu-led administration to convoke a summit involving the Executive, Judiciary, Legislature and the leadership of the legal profession to critically examine the system with a view to developing a better one.
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Fasanmi added that the reform should see to financial autonomy, the eradication of delay in justice administration, enhanced process of appointing judges, anti-corruption and strengthen accountability in the Judiciary.
“It is saddening that the Nigerian justice system is at a crossroads. Consequently, it needs some introspection and should be reformed holistically. The judiciary is not just any institution but the last hope of the common man. So, the urgent need for the reformation of the system can’t be over-emphasised.
“We hope the administration of Senator Bola Tinubu will muster the political will to restructure the system in such a way that the challenges affecting the justice system would be addressed.
“This will surely make the justice system to save its face and regain its pride of place in dispensing justice without fear or favour”.
He added that Tinubu should ensure that the judicial arm guarded its independence and impartiality by ensuring the Judiciary enjoyed financial autonomy so that judges would be firm in dispensing justice without fear or favour.
On the process of appointing judges, the NBA boss stressed that this should be based on merit and not political patronage, adding that the Bench should be exclusively for the best and brightest in character.