It must address the basics to make any impact
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, was upbeat recently, when he received the report of the 13-member steering committee he set up a few weeks ago: “to coordinate a comprehensive reform of the country’s judiciary.” The committee was headed by Mrs Bilkisu Bashir, Secretary of the National Judicial Service Commission. According to reports, the CJN promised comprehensive reforms, based on the recommendations of the administrative committee.
While we wish the CJN success in his aspirations for sweeping reforms in the judiciary, we are not sure whether the proposed administrative reforms will gift Nigeria the kind of judiciary they crave for. In our view, Nigerians earnestly desire a judiciary which will efficiently and quickly bring to justice those who have denigrated our common humanity through unbearable corrupt practices.
If the CJN or the committee he set up had proposed a radical departure from the present inefficient criminal justice system, which is hindering the war on corruption, then we would gladly join in his excitement. Specifically, if the CJN, based on the report, will propose laws to make a person accused of corrupt enrichment liable to justify his sources of income, rather than mock the rest of us by claiming innocence despite glaring evidence of corruption, we will be glad. We also want a judicial system that will drastically reduce the number of awaiting trial persons that populate our prisons.
But if the committee’s report is chiefly about the enhanced welfare of the judiciary, then we warn that there is not much to celebrate. Even the statement of the CJN betrays the misplaced optimism, when he said to members of the committee: “You were carefully chosen for the assignment basically because you are the engine room of the federal judiciary. You are in the administration; you have been in the administration. You ought to know what our problems are, because as they say, the wearer of the shoe knows where it pinches.”
So, while we appreciate that the judiciary may actually have administrative challenges, the one problem which members of the society care more about is the ineffectiveness of the justice system. There is the belief among the populace that corruption festers, even among judicial officials; also, that big-time criminals easily get away because the system can be exploited. There is also worry that the National Judicial Council (NJC) which the CJN heads, has not shown the capacity to punish corrupt judges.
In essence, if the CJN’s committee is proposing how to make the NJC more efficient in disciplining erring judges, then we can hope for a new lease of life for the judiciary. If the report proposes a change in the membership of the NJC, or a code of conduct that will ensure that cases brought before the council are expeditiously treated, then we can join him to invest hope for a new dawn. But how can a committee made up of the current administrators proffer solutions that may whittle or sweep away some of the privileges of their bosses?
The committee cannot, for instance, recommend a radical departure from the turn by turn approach to the appointment of CJN or even chief judges of states. It cannot recommend a more efficient system of appointment of judges across the country or even a federalised judiciary. And, in our view, unless efficiency and capacity is made the watchword, the system will continue to throw up mediocre jurists at various cadres, and all that pulled together, gifts us a poor justice system to our common detriment.
To an extent, the committee chairperson was honest about the limited value of their report, when she said: “our belief is that this report is only but a scratch. It is something that His Lordship will work with and improve upon.” But she confirmed the need for reforms, when she said: “from the discussions we had with the stakeholders, it is obvious that everyone wants to key into this reform programme of the Hon CJN.” On our part, we can confirm to that committee and the CJN that the stakeholders are indeed interested in more fundamental reforms.
The CJN must therefore steer his reforms to cover the entire legal profession, including the practice of law in our courts. We consider it an aberration that courts allow lawyers, especially the senior advocates to stymie the new Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), which was enacted to hasten the duration of trials. Whether it is the laws or the practitioners that are to blame, it is scandalous that criminal cases still linger for years, with adjournments which, in our view, offend the ACJA, without any sanction.
So when the CJN says: “to put things right and straighten the system is not going to be easy…” we earnestly hope his energy is channelled in the right direction. The right direction must gift Nigeria an efficient judiciary ready to bring corruption to its knees. Nigeria has witnessed so many judicial reforms, with almost every CJN coming with his own. But they have ended up reforming nothing because, largely, they did not address the fundamentals.
