Deploy information as tool against judicial corruption -former S’Court Justice
A former justice of the Supreme Court, Olufunlola Adekeye, on Tuesday stated that increased civil society’s access to government information is essential as tool to fighting judicial corruption.
Justice Adekeye disclosed this at a public presentation in Abuja of second quarter report of survey by the Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative on the working of courts in Federal Capital Territory Abuja and Kano state.
She said that civil society access to information will increase citizen’s access to justice and expand citizen’s engagement with the government, essentially on the government goal to eradicate bribery and corruption.
Justice Adekeye said that an erroneous belief by public that judiciary was corrupt has persisted because majority of the populace lacked knowledge of the working of the courts.
The project, she explained will give greater access to the public about the working of the court and judiciary.
Presenting the report, the programme manager of Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN), the civil society that carries out the survey, Barbara Maigari, called for the provision of electronic recording facilities in courts to ensure effective recording of court proceedings by judges and magistrates across the country.
She said that the continuous writing in long hands by judges and magistrates, has contributed greatly to the delay in justice dispensation. She also listed absence of defence lawyers and suspects in courts, official trips by judges, frequent adjournments of cases as some factors militating against speedy trial of cases.
The data presented to the public showed that legal aid to indigent Nigerians in need of justice was only about 15 per cent while facilities to aid those with disabilities in courts was put at 16 per cent within Abuja.
According to Maigari, the project embarked upon by the group, aimed at increasing civil society’s access to government information as a tool to fight judicial corruption, enhance access to justice and expand the opportunity for citizens to engagement with government.
Maigari added that the country’s criminal justice system is so crucial to the growth of democracy that it cannot afford to accommodate inefficient agencies. “We realized that this can only be achieved by increasing the capacity of civil society to access this information on the judicial process,” Maigari stated.
