The House of Representatives committee on the federal judiciary, has expressed concerns over what it termed slow pace of justice delivery in Nigeria.
To this end, its Chairman, Hon. Luke Onofiok has tasked his colleagues to brace up, as the committee settles down for business, noting that a lot of reforms would be carried out in the judiciary.
“The slow pace of justice delivery and backlog of matters is a cause for concern. Some matters spend a minimum lifespan of 10 years before their final adjudication at the apex court – Supreme Court. Part of this problem is that our legal system allows all matters to travel to the Supreme Court without limit. Not all matters should merit the attention of the apex court. In developed democracies like United States, only constitutional and important matters reach the Supreme Court.
“General matters are handled by trial and appellate courts based on the precedents set by the Supreme Court. We will have to reconsider our laws to ensure that we do not overburden the Supreme Court, hence slowing down the pace of justice,” Onofiok stated at the inaugural meeting of his committee, Monday in Abuja.
On the expected reforms in the sector, the lawmaker said, “the Committee, in synergy with relevant bodies and stakeholders like the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, the judiciary itself, civil society organisations, proposes to invigorate the judiciary for effective performance and quick, efficient justice delivery to the common man”, adding that he would join hands with his colleagues towards re-positioning the judiciary and addressing the challenges confronting it.
“We need to continually advocate and protect the independence of our judiciary so that our judges will be bold and firm to dispense justice without fear and favour. By our laws, our judges are not allowed to speak freely. We hold our judiciary, and by extension, the people, a duty to speak up for the welfare of the judiciary.
“On our shoulders is the huge responsibility of over-sighting the judiciary, an arm of government saddled with the dispensation of justice. Together, we should work to keep the streams of justice clean, pure and unpolluted for safe drinking by our people”, Onofiok tasked his colleagues.
