Buhari wants judges to be impartial, enhance justice delivery

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday challenged judges in the country to strive to meet public expectations on justice delivery and justify the increase public fundings. He said that “for the judiciary, the public expects fairness, impartiality and speed in the administration of justice.”

Buhari spoke in Abuja while declaring open the 2017 All Nigeria Judges’ Conference organized by the National Judicial Institute. He added that his administration increased allocation to the Judiciary from N70 billion to N100 billion in the 2017 Budget, saying that a similar figure has been proposed for 2018. On the need for the judiciary to live up to expectations, He said,” The public expects fairness, impartiality and speed in the administration of justice.

“But regrettably court cases can drag on for years and years, sometimes decades without resolution. I need only mention land cases in Lagos to illustrate my point.” “There are huge backlogs of cases waiting to be dispensed especially at the Appellate levels. Reform of the judiciary should start at eliminating these seemingly endless delays in settling what to the layman are apparently simple cases.”

The president also said that litigants expect that higher courts should endeavour to harmonize their rulings. He said, “There are contradictory decisions of superior courts on the same subject matter in cases where facts are substantially the same without a clear attempt in subsequent cases to distinguish the earlier cases.

This lack of clarity leads to serious confusion to the lower courts, he added. “For the judiciary, the public expects fairness, impartiality and speed in the administration of justice.

Regrettably court cases can drag on for years and years, sometimes decades without resolution. I need only mention land cases in Lagos to illustrate my point. “The knock-on efforts of these delays and dis-continuities range from loss of confidence in the judicial system to over-crowding of prisons. This is “an area Your Lordships should pay close attention to in your efforts at reforming the system.”

He said all are aware that one of the objectives of his administration is to combat graft and other forms of corruption that is endemic in our public life, saying that the executive could not achieve these objectives alone. He added that the executive require the close cooperation of other arms of government.

He recalled that earlier this year the Judiciary came under investigation and assured the judicial community that the “action taken by the Executive was in no way a prelude to usurping the powers of the National Judicial Council (NJC) or aimed at intimidating the Judiciary as wrongly portrayed in some sections of the media.

Executive and legislative officials were also investigated” Stating that the majority of judicial officers are learned and incorruptible and are acting in the best spirit of their oath of office, Buhari said, “At the same time, I am quite aware of the problems besetting the Judiciary including underfunding, inadequate personnel and absence of modern technological aids.”

He commended the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, for calling on Heads of various Courts to pay close attention to the activities of the lower Courts within their jurisdiction, adding that proper supervision and feedback mechanisms are imperative if the judiciary must succeed.

In his own address, the CJN urged the Executive to always obey judgements of court, saying that the development will boost the confidence reposed in the judiciary. The CJN however noted that a corrupt Judge is not only a disgrace to the Bench and the noble profession, but also a disaster to the course of justice and the nation.

The CJN said, “I must not fail to emphasise here that my definition of corruption is not limited to bribetaking, but includes the giving of judgments or orders based on any consideration other than legal merit.

It is gratifying to note however, that the NJC is already tackling this cankerworm head-on. Earlier in her welcome speech, the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJC), Justice Rosaline Bozimo, noted that the conference is for stock taking for justices and judges of Superior Court of Record from all over the country, to converge and reflect upon the activities of the Judiciary with the benefit of hindsight and reflect on achievement and challenges of the judiciary.

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