Nigeria’s judiciary is bedevilled by corruption and official decay, thus eroding the confidence of the public in the system, which is regarded as the bastion of the common man. Senior Correspondent, JUDE KENNETH, dissects the malady and hazards a solution.
According to an African adage, when the linen gets messy, it is taken to the stream for cleansing; but when the steam itself is filthy and odourous, where can it be taken to.
The above maxim may be used to refer to Nigeria’s judiciary.
The judiciary, the third arm of government in a democracy, is rightly referred to as the last hope of the common man. This presupposes that it guarantees equal access to justice and equity and equally ensures that the rights of citizens are adequately accommodated and judgments handed down in accordance to the dictates of the law and facts presented to the court.
The judiciary can only act as the last hope of the common man when it is independent, well-funded, courageous, unbiased, free from corruption and proactive. Unfortunately, these salient attributes have been elusive in the Nigerian context, as the Global Corruption Barometer 2010/2011 of independent observer, Transparency International (TI), ranked Nigerian judiciary among the most corrupt institutions in the country.
Apparently dissatisfied and worried over the rate of decadence in the nation’s judicial system, Chairman, Legal Aids Council of Nigeria, Bolaji Ayorinde, said: “The system has, in fact, suffered from severe corrupting influence which has been official and private. Official corruption is institutionalised by the government where it deliberately underfunds the judicial system and controls the privileges enjoyed by judicial officers.”
Judicial corruption
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) described judicial corruption as inappropriate financial or material gain and non-material gain aimed at influencing the impartiality of the judicial process by any actor within or outside the court system.
He said that judicial corruption poisons the judicial process by compromising its defining attribute which is fairness, equality and fearless resolution of disputes.
“Judicial corruption can be perpetrated in many forms such as bribery to pervert justice, appointment of judges without due process, elevation of lawyers to the status of senior advocates without following the laid down rules and principles, delivering pre-determined judgments and rulings, offering of bribe to judicial workers to tamper with case files, inducing the bailiffs to carry out unwarranted court orders or execution of judgments, inducing judicial workers with money to obtain one favour or another from them,” he stressed.
Causes
Ayorinde attributed the infection of judiciary with corruption to the interference of politicians, businessmen and traditional rulers who bribe, intimidate, harass and/or intimidate judges to depart from their sacred oath of office and the path of honour and rectitude to mortgage or sell their conscience and integrity.
Stakeholders in the judicial system, including members of the bench, the bar, court administrators and workers, are not absolved of corruption in the justice system.
Another cause of corruption in the system is under-funding. The judiciary is starved of fund and is made to go cap-in-hand to the powers-that-be. In the process, the quality and impartiality of justice delivery is sometimes perceived as compromised in favour of the government at both federal and state levels. Under-funding and financial autonomy of the judiciary was the cause of the industrial action the Judicial staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) embarked on in July/August this year. The union has only suspended the strike, threatening to resume if its demands are not met.
It is believed that since politicians wield executive powers, and since they are directly involved in the recommendation and appointment of judges, provision of courts, court materials, chambers, residences and other necessary things, the executive would indirectly influence the work of the judicial officers.
Underfunding of the judiciary 54 years after Independence is quite appalling and is, no doubt, one of the consequences of decay in the judiciary. It undermines the independence of the judiciary and makes nonsense of the globally accepted conventions like the United Nations (UN) principles on the independence of the judiciary.
Kaduna-based lawyer and one-time solicitor-general of the state, Aliyu Umar, said: “The problem has to do with the whole system. It is the way Nigeria is, and because the sector is in Nigeria, the problem facing the country as a whole is what is affecting the judicial system. There are lots of problems in the sector. For example, before one becomes a SAN, one must have gone to the Supreme Court at least twice. That is not the problem; the problem is that one needs to make some move by seeing some (powerful) people before their case is presented at the court. This is not something hidden because most lawyers would tell you this.
“This alone explains that our judicial system is faulty. The politicisation of the judicial system and interference in judicial process by those in government is another serious problem which is a cause for concern for all of us.”
He blamed the rot in the Judiciary on the elongation of cases in the courts, especially at the nation’s apex court.
CJN aware of rot
Apparently aware of the rot in the sector, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, while swearing in Justice Ibrahim Bukar as Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, charged him to work very hard to redeem the battered image of the judiciary and ensure that public confidence is restored in the sector.
“Let me also remind you that your appointment is coming at a time the Nigerian judiciary, particularly the High Court of the FCT, is on the heels of various challenges. I am of the firm belief that these challenges are not insurmountable. I therefore charge you to leave no stone unturned to reposition the court and ensure that the confidence of the public is restored in the system. The rare quality of leadership by example must constantly be your watchword and you must strive to ensure that you carry out your functions without any dint of taint on your name,” she charged.
Living above means
Investigations carried out in the judiciary from 2006 to 2013, confirmed that a number of judges have been named as “living above their legal means”. It was further discovered that a number of judicial officers were linked to “judgment procurement”, which was said to have gulped about N106 billion in recent years.
The last has not been heard of the development in the judiciary, as far as corruption is concerned. A report confirmed that some properties were bought globally, especially in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Africa and London by some judicial officers. Some of the real owners are judicial personnel, whose total emoluments cannot in anyway justify the purchases.
Some more high court judges, a judge of the Federal Court of Appeal and a former Chief Judge of Lagos State, were fingered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over matters bordering on official misconduct.
Sanity
According to Ayorinde, to eradicate the decay in the judiciary, some measures must be taken. The code of conduct for the bench should be made public and the media should play the role of ombudsman to the conduct of judges. There must be executive determination and political will to have a fully independent judiciary. The executive arm should not be seen as providing for the welfare of judges as a favour being extended to the judiciary.
He advocated complete independence of the judiciary.
“In appointment of judges, the body in charge should take extra measures and due diligence before an appointment is made. Judges should build their integrity and public trust, and there should be judicial accountability and discipline.
“There should be amendment of obsolete criminal laws, reactivation of justice commission and passage into law the administration of criminal justice bill and other justice sector bills pending at the National Assembly,” he said.
The solution to underfunding of the judiciary, which is the basis of official corruption and decay, is already provided by law and should be adhered to strictly, he added.
