Judges have resumed for the 2019/2020 legal year after a long vacation.They must deal with challenges such as congested dockets, archaic filing methods, obsolete procedures and other factors that cause delays. ADEBISI ONANUGA,ERIC IKHILAE and ROBERT EGBE highlight tasks before the judiciary.
Kingsley Ibe is barely two years at the Bar, but he is already familiar with some of the shortcomings of the judicial system.
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) alumnus and First Class graduate of the Nigerian Law School, who ditched his dream of becoming an astronaut for a law career, is displeased with some of the things he has observed about the profession.
He said: “Cases unnecessarily last in court for many years… The incessant adjournments, extension of time to file papers, frivolous applications and other unnecessary procedures make litigation cost much time.
“Another problem, more of a problem of the judiciary as an arm of government, is that most court rooms are so uncomfortable. Some are even dilapidated. You cannot imagine a Government House or a Legislative Chamber that way. The court premises and rooms are not compartible with the pride of the profession.”
Ibe’s observations are nothing new. The judicial system has several challenges, some of which are decades old. They include judicial delay, perceived corruption, and dependence on the Executive for funding, among others.
All of these have added to a generally low level of litigants’ trust in the system, not only in Nigeria, but across the continent. Distrust of judicial system is not a Nigerian thing.
A 2017 survey by Afrobarometer, which collects samples from respondents across 36 African countries, suggested that just over half of the people on the continent have faith in the integrity of judges and their local courts. It found that Africans are more trusting of religious and traditional leaders than courts.
In the survey, only 38 percent of respondents said they trusted courts in Nigeria.
Afrobarometer’s figures are comparable with that of the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2019.
In 2019, the World Justice Project named Denmark as the country with the best judicial system in the world, measured by rule of law – for the fifth time in a row. No African country made the top 60.
The index is based on 48 parameters, measuring the level of corruption, human rights, state openness and criminal justice system, among others.
It ranked Nigeria’s criminal justice system as 12 out of 30 in Africa and 72 out of 126 in the world.
Tasks before the Nigerian Judiciary
Upon resumption from the annual vacation, superior courts in Nigeria usually hold valedictory court sessions and judges’ conferences. Both events serve as platforms for the courts to review their performances in the previous year and strategise for improved outing in the new legal year.
As the courts settle for the 2019/2020 legal year, there are several pending issues the judicial sector must attend to, should it desire to improve on the court’s performance and stakeholders’ satisfaction.
Judicial delay
The long period it often takes for some cases to be concluded is something Seyi Sowemimo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), knows well.
At a recent event on the length of court judgments, Sowemimo said: “You have cases in our court that are five years old, 15 years old, 20 years old and they have not reached the judgment stage. It is not the judgment itself that gives us the problem because even the constitution says you have to deliver it within three months.”
He said the main issue was how to create a system that allowed judges to deal with cases within one or two years.
Sowemimo also observed that “a number of the problems we have which result in delay in trial of cases, a lot of it (are) on the part of lawyers, adjournments and frivolous appeals.
“I’m yet to see a trial process in Nigeria where documents are tendered without some objection or the other, even when they have been front-loaded. That is what takes a lot of our time. “
He went on: “But I believe that it is not the judgments that are our problem, we need not dispense with lengthy judgments, we should rather address those other issues which delay the trial of cases especially on the part of lawyers, adjournments and sometimes also on the part of judges, because we realise that after we have come from a long vacation, the next thing you hear is that they’re having judges’ conference and the next day, there are other things.
“So, before you even have the first three months of the legal year, you find that you’re already in Christmas period, so these are the things which delay. There has to be attitudinal changes.”
Stakeholders have, over the years, noted that other causes of delay in the court system are inadequate deployment of technology in court operations. Judges still record proceedings in long hand; processes are served manually, hearing notices and other communication activities between law chambers and the courts are still conducted manually.
To address this, observers have advised court heads to work on ways to improve infrastructure and work tools; deploy more technologies and come up with a deadline for judges to cease to record proceedings in long hand.
They further suggested that the National Judicial Council (NJC) should make information and communication technology proficiency a key condition in the recruitment of new judges.
Ibe also advocated a change in attitudes and amendment of Rules of Court.
He said: “First of all, I will change our attitude towards litigation. Even the Rules of courts, as they are, don’t help the situation. I will start addressing the problem from there. The Rules should set a good timetable for cases. All necessary papers could be put in within a specific period, after which hearing commences for a few days, depending on the nature of the case, after which lawyers address the court and the court adjourns for judgment.”
Protection of judicial sanctity and integrity
That judicial integrity and sanctity need protecting is not in doubt. The judicial profession is a conservative one. As courts strategise for the new year, stakeholders have advised court heads to evolve new ways of addressing the growing threat to judicial sanctity and integrity.
They noted the effects of many incidents, including rising unethical conduct among judicial officials, on public confidence in the court system.
Observers spoke of the need for a further review of the judges’ recruitment process to ensure that only lawyers with passion for the Bench and commitment to duty are engaged.
They equally suggested that besides working to prevent future occurrences, court heads should address pending cases of infraction that appeared to have been glossed over. They cited the case of the fourth most senior member of the Supreme Court’s Bench, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta.
Justice Ngwuta’s status has become an item of discussion in judicial circle, particularly among officers and senior lawyers, who have expressed concern over the reluctance of the Supreme Court and the NJC to act on the issue.
Justice Ngwuta has not sat in open court since November 4, 2016 following a directive by the NJC that judicial officers, who were being investigated on corruption related allegations, should cease to perform judicial functions until the conclusion of investigation.
He was one of the two Justices of the Supreme Court, whose houses were raided by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on October 7 and 8, 2016.
While his colleague Justice John Okoro resumed duties shortly after the raid, Ngwuta was charged to court.
He was first arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja on corruption-related charges, and later arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), for his alleged failure to declare some of his assets. Both charges were filed by the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
On March 23, 2018, the Federal High Court upheld his challenge of the competence of the charge and discharged him.
Justice John Tsoho, in a ruling, relied on the Court of Appeal decision in the appeal by Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa (of the Federal High Court). He held that it was wrong to subject Justice Ngwuta to trial before his court, without first subjecting him to the disciplinary procedure of the NJC.
On May 15, 2018, the CCT also held in like manner and struck out the charge against Justice Ngwuta.
A member of the tribunal, Atedze William Agwaza, said in the ruling, “in resolving issues raised by parties in this application, it is hereby held that the defendant/applicant, though a public officer, is also a judicial officer, and subject first to the discipline and management of the NJC.
“This is in line with Section 158(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). Paragraph 21 (b) of Part 1 of the 3rd Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Nganjiwa V. FRN (supra), which forms a precedent binding on this tribunal.
“Our hands are, therefore, tied in the light of the aforesaid decision. Based on the above, the application of the defendant/applicant is found merited, and hereby granted. The defendant is hereby discharged accordingly,” Agwaza said.
Since the decision by the CCT, Justice Ngwuta has not resumed judicial functions. He has not been sighted sitting as a member of any panel of the court.
Need for transparency and accountability in the deployment of budgetary allocation
One could be excused to assert that the Judiciary remains the most opaque sector of all, in view of its seeming predilection for acting behind closed doors. Beyond the announcement that a lump sum is allocated to the judiciary in the annual budget, nothing is known about its disbursement.
The judiciary often exhibits a strange aversion to being scrutinised while, in most cases, it rejects requests made under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, by the media and civil society organisations, for details of how its budgetary allocations are expended.
Need to uphold judicial independence, separation of power
Court heads should also impress it on judicial officers that the fast- eroding public confidence in the judicial process results partly from the perception that the court is not independent.
The various courts, observers often noted, should be more assertive in the new year, with more judges engaging in judicial activism and taking decisions that strengthen the democratic doctrines of rule of law and separation of powers.
How Africa’s ‘second busiest judiciary’ plans to tackle the problem
Judicial officers in the Lagos State Judiciary, often described as ‘Africa’s second busiest’, and arguably its most innovative, are aware of the problem.
Chief Judge of Lagos State Justice Kazeem Alogba recently pledged to work towards transforming the sector. As part of his New Legal Year agenda, he has promised the establishment of a smart judiciary through the provision of a first-class judicial services, in line with international best practice, sustenance of the independence of the judiciary and reformation of the administration of justice system.
Smart judiciary
Justice Alogba explained that the “smart judiciary” envisaged for Lagos would be achieved by deploying technology that would enable the courts to dispense complicated cases on time.
He said: “We will be deploying more tools of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the provision of our services. In-video conferencing of court proceedings has already started and we will be doing more in this area.”
Anti-corruption
The CJ promised to continue in the stead of his predecessor, Justice Opeyemi Oke, in the fight against corruption. He said he would embark on “rigorous training” for judicial staff to enhance capacity, promising that he would maintain zero tolerance for corruption within that arm of the government.
Dearth of judges
Justice Alogba lamented the dearth of judges in the state, pointing out that Lagos had 54 judges in its employment to dispense thousands of cases filed daily in courts. He planned to appoint more judges to deal with the high volume of cases. He also pleaded with the state’s Executive to increase funding of the judiciary for improved service delivery.
Decongestion of courts
One major problem confronting all levels of the courts in the country has been congestion of cases in the dockets of the judges which causes delay in justice administration.
Addressing judges of the Federal High courts last Thursday, Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, disclosed that judges of the court were overburdened with about 116,623 cases.
He said in the last quarter alone, about 16,144 cases were filed of which 12,692 had been disposed off.
He said the development was an attestation to inadequacy of judges at the courts, thereby slowing down the dispensation of justice. He noted that the record was an indication that more judges would be needed to speed up the wheel of justice delivery.
The situation is not any way better in Lagos, with about 54 judges and 120 magistrates in a state with about 20 million people.
Last year, former Justice Oke declared a state of emergency in the judiciary, following the evaluation of 2,886 old case files, including a 70-year-old case, under its Backlog Elimination Programme (BEP). The 70-year-old case, which was the oldest, sought to “seeking to enforce a judgment”.
The BEP was designed to decongest the courts by re-evaluation of old cases and finding ways of resolving them through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) or accelerated hearing.
Justice Oke noted that “delay has led to public ridicule of the judiciary which is supposed to be the hope of the common man. This delay, coupled with the continuous filing of new cases, has led to congestion of the court with a ridiculous number of backlog of cases, the result of which the courts are now in a state of emergency.”
Lawyers’ expectation in the new legal year
Lawyers’ expectations for a better judiciary in the new legal year are high as always.
Dr Fassy Yusuf said the 2019/2020 Legal Year should witness the rejigging of the justice delivery system; court decongestion, technological refinement, effective service delivery and positive attitudinal change.
He urged the judiciary to “polish its image and strategically communicate with all its stakeholders for understanding and empathy.
“It must also establish a Watchdog mechanism for handling cases of infractions by judicial officers and workers.
“Above all, the redemption of the sanctity of the judiciary must be sacrosanct. The temple of justice must never be desecrated again.”
Administration of justice
Executive Director, Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVIFON), Mrs. Gloria Egbuji, said her expectation for the new legal year is general improvement of administration of justice.
She said she expected that experiences of the past years would “add up as a lesson to the new year so that good things learnt will be improved upon and bad ones dropped.”
According to Mrs. Egbuji, senior lawyers and Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) must continue to justify the expectations of the people on them, especially new SANs.
She craved the highest standard of excellence from all lawyers, new wigs and old, given that enormous responsibilities are expected of them as “learned people “
Mrs. Egbuji added: “I expect the senior lawyers to mentor and groom the younger ones and give them a sense of belonging. The bottom line here is that rule of law must be preserved and promoted at all times by all officers at the temple of justice.”
Judicial independence
The CRIVIFON Executive Director said the judiciary must “strive and make bold to maintain and regain its independence and full confidence of the masses
“There should be no corrupt practices at the judiciary as these have damaging impact on the system. All erring officers must promptly be brought to book and the strategies provided by the national judicial policy strictly adhered to.
“I also expect continuous legal education for the judges and lawyers to catch up with the dynamics of world issues. Service to community should be the key element for all judges in accordance with the judicial oath”.
Mrs. Egbuji said the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) management, at state and national levels should, in the new legal year, ensure that the Bar is positioned above other professions. She added that there should be no internal political squabbling among the officers.
Delay in justice administration
She admonished Chief Justices (CJs) of the various levels of courts to take “a good look at the heavy caseloads in their courts and the delayed justice they are causing the litigants.”
According to her, “the stringent bail conditions given to people that approach the criminal courts should be reviewed with a view to not always sending those brought to court as overnight cases to prison because that will negate the constitutional provision of being innocent until proven guilty, particularly in Lagos Judiciary.”
Small claims court
She further called for the establishment of more small claim courts, speedy enforcement of court orders and easier access to records for appeals.
“Transparent services of court processes by court bailiffs/sheriffs” she said.
Mrs. Egbuji further called for more reforms of the election tribunals for speedier delivery of judgments among others.
She added: “Finally, I expect more provisions of legal aid to poor people who do not have access to justice. The Legal Aid Council can do better than what it is doing now. Many poor people are languishing in prison, awaiting trial because of poverty and no legal assistance.”
The judiciary, she noted, must ensure that “cases that come to it are determined on their merits according to law.”