The Judges’ Performance Evaluation Committee of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which assesses the performances of judicial officers of superior courts of record, has commended Justice Nelson Ogbuanya of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.
In a November 18 commendation letter addressed to him through the Office of the President of the Industrial Court and signed by the Secretary to the Committee for the Chairman, H. S Sa’eed, the committee said he performed excellently well by delivering 28 judgments during the quarter and urged His Lordship to keep the stride up.
It reads: “At the 69th Meeting of the Judges’ Performance Evaluation Committee of the National Judicial Council held on 3 & 4 October 2023, the Return of Cases received for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Quarters 2022, as well as the Return of Cases for the 1st Quarter, 2023 were assessed.
“The Committee noted with admiration that Your Lordship performed excellently well by delivering 28 judgments during the Quarter.
“I am therefore directed to, through this letter, commend the effort of Your Lordship and to urge you to please keep it up. Please, accept the assurances of the warm regards of the Committee Chairman, HRH Hon, Justice S.Bage Muhammad 1.”
In the assessments for contested cases, 0-3 is ranked as no performance; 4-5, marginal performance; 6-10, fair; 11-18, good; 19-23, very good; 24 and above, excellent.
A judicial officer rated with non-performance or marginal performance in a quarter will be sent a letter (query) to explain the reason for his performance.
Read Also: NJC rejects petition against Osun CJ Adepele-Ojo
If such a judicial officer is graded with non-performance or marginal performance for three consecutive quarters, he will be invited to appear before the Committee to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken against him, as such non-performance is considered as misconduct, which can lead to removal from office.
A judicial officer graded “very good” will be issued a letter of appreciation, while a judicial officer rated “excellent” will be issued a letter of commendation by the Committee.
Judges’ performance rating also impacts the rating of the Head of the Court and the Court where the Judges are serving.
The Committee was created in 2003 by the NJC to improve the judicial performance and ethical conduct of judicial officers across the country.
The various mandates of the Committee include evaluating, assessing, monitoring and supervising the general conduct of judicial officers in the discharge of their judicial functions and administration of justice.
One of the core objectives of the Performance Evaluation Committee is to provide adequate mechanisms to enhance the performance of judicial officers through continuous monitoring, evaluation accountability and learning to improve effective and efficient productivity by Judicial Officers in various courts in Nigeria, both trial and appellate courts.
In discharging the mandate, it regularly carries out detailed examination, assessment and evaluation of the Quarterly Returns of Judicial Officers of the Superior Courts in the Country, based on their submitted Quarterly Returns of Cases conducted, and scrutinises the performance of Judges based on set indicators and parameters, and also regularly establishes statistical dashboards of Judges’ performance.