President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will continue to partner with Nigeria’s judiciary to ensure that it is financially independent.
President Buhari stated this on Monday in his speech delivered by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the 2021 Biennial All Nigeria Judges’ Conference held at the Andrew Otutu Obaseki Auditorium of the National Judicial Institute, Mohammed Bello Centre, Abuja.
He said that the independence of the judiciary would enable that arm of government to be able to effectively and sustainably retain a preeminent position in the quality of jurists manning the courts and the jurisprudence that develops from their collective premier reasoning.
“The Judiciary remains the last hope of the common man; it exercises powers that affect lives and liberties. A trusted, well-resourced and well-functioning Judiciary is therefore essential to the entrenchment of rule of law.
“To maintain this revered position, and retain greater public confidence by the citizens, the Judiciary must be independent from all forms of interference and must maintain the highest level of responsiveness, professional standards, and integrity,” President Buhari said.
President Buhari said that he was not unaware of the number of challenges slowing the pace of transformation in the administration of justice system.
According to him, more needs to be done to strike a sound balance between a high level of productivity, the quality of judicial decisions, and careful consideration of cases.
He said that his administration was working through the Federal Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with the National Judicial Council, towards the resolution of these challenges.
He said measures being taken to address these challenges include the “development of strategic infrastructure that will provide ease in case management, including electronic recording of proceedings to replace the tedious longhand recording currently practiced in the majority of our courts.
“Advancements in courtroom technology (E-Court systems) have increased the level of efficiency in the justice system in the areas of speed of documentation, accuracy, security, and accessibility of records.”
He also said the administration was taking steps to ensure “enhanced welfare of judicial officers, especially in the area of conditions of service – salaries, allowances, and retirement benefits for Judicial Officers and provision of comprehensive medical insurance.
“On this, I wish to commend the National Judicial Council for the institution of the NJC Health Insurance Programme, which provides comprehensive international insurance for all members of the Federal Judiciary as well as comprehensive local coverage within all the States of the Federation,” the president stated.
The Nigerian leaders said that these were aimed at standardizing our courts, safeguarding the integrity of the Judiciary, and attracting the best of legal minds to the bench.
He reminded the judges of his point he made at the 2019 conference of judges on the need for implementation of measures that will ensure speedy dispensation of justice in the country through the dual-track of removing administrative bottlenecks in the judicial process and adopting modern time-saving technology.
He said lessons learned during period of the COVID-19 pandemic have provided measures to achieving both goals.
“We have seen how the Judiciary has risen to the challenge. Practice Directions were issued by several courts for remote hearing of cases, electronic filing of court processes, service of hearing notices via email addresses and mobile phone numbers of counsel, and e-payment of filing fees; with relevant devices installed.
“These innovative approaches have, in addition to ensuring compliance with the Covid-19 protocols, ensured that the wheels of justice continued to move unhindered – in some cases even faster than what was obtained during physical hearings.
“Speed, efficiency, and effectiveness were attained. It aided in the decongestion of cases, did away with the obsolete method of physical filing, and ensured structured use of both judicial and administrative time and resources.
“Travel time to-and-from the court for litigants, counsel, and witnesses was no longer an issue, effectively minimizing the need for adjournments.
“I believe that a universal application of these approaches across the country will greatly enhance access to and speedy dispensation of justice.
“As My Lords are aware, delay in the dispensation of justice coupled with the increase in the number of cases in our courts have remained subjects of grave concern. As someone said, ‘our problem is not access to justice it is exiting the justice system.”
While noting that delays were not necessarily the fault of judges, President Buhari called for evolving a cost-award system that would discourage delays and dilatory tactics in the administration of justice.
“We are part of the global marketplace for investment and legal services. The extent to which we can attract business to our country depends in part upon investor perception of the quality of our justice delivery system. If we are seen as inefficient and ineffective, we would lose out to more efficient systems.”
President Buhari also spoke on judicial integrity, stating that it was necessary for the courts to be respected and trusted.
“There is, in my humble view, nothing as important than for judges to be trusted for honesty and integrity.
“Men and women who have the power over the lives and livelihoods of others are not like the rest of us, we must place them on the highest scale of probity.”
He urged the judges not to allow a few to undermine the respect and trust that the Nigerian Judiciary has built up in over a century of its existence.
