Niger needs 20 High Court judges – Commissioner

Niger state judiciary needs 20 High Court judges for quick dispensation of justice, the Anthony – General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Abdullahi Bawa Wuse, has said.
He stated this at the weekend while interacting with journalists, adding that over the past 10 years there hadn’t been any appointment of judge in the state High Court.
He explained that although the administration recently appointed two judges of the High Court, the list of three others forwarded for appointment was rejected by the National Judicial Service Commission (JSC) because they had not made required returns of cases from the state.
Wuse said the procedure had put hitches on the way for the appointment of judges, stressing that “I hope that the judges would sit tight and make necessary returns that will qualify them for the appointment of High Court judges.”
He lamented that the quality of magistrates had been overlooked and pushed aside overtime with appointments without consideration of their three years mandatory experience.
“For us at the ministry, we are saying that those to be appointed as magistrates must have worked with the ministry of justice for not less than five years, while those in private must have practised for seven years before appointments.”
He stressed the need for better rules to be set for more efficacies in the judicial system to avoid delay in justice to the people.
The commissioner said the government had taken note of the independence of the judiciary and had taken steps to ensure that the third arm of government got its funds at source, since last year.
Blueprint learnt that currently, there were about seven High Court judges in the state judiciary while some of them sit in two to three judicial divisions.