; is for me a great honor indeed. Late Alhaji Adbulahi Ibrahim SAN CON was not just a legal titan but easily the foremost ethical lawyer ever in Nigeria. He was passionately committed to upholding ethical standards and never hesitated in voicing his disagreements when lawyers go contrary to established rules of conducts.
I therefore propose in this lecture to examine the ESSENSE AND SIGNIFICANCE of the justice delivery system highlight an overview of justice delivery system in specific countries of the world historically review the trend of justice delivery system in Nigeria analyse impediments to effective justice delivery Highlight efforts so far made to remedy the delivery deficit examine proposed judicial reforms examine the criminal justice system address the enduring challenges to Nigeria’s delivery...
The significance is loss of confidence by the public on the justice system. Public perception is a critical ingredient in the assessment of justice delivery. In this regard, courts were not established and judges were never appointed on any agreed ratio to the population. Furthermore with increasing literacy amongst the populace, the importance of litigation over and above jungle justice was underscored. Land matters dominated our court dockets pre and post-independence and the supreme court were never spared of the avalanche or land litigation from most cities, villages and communities of then southern Nigeria.
Even at this, statistics available shows that across board, not more than 11 per cent of civil cases are disposed of periodically and about 16 per cent of criminal cases are disposed off. This means the pendency of 89 per cent of civil cases and 84 per cent of criminal cases.There are a host of legislative interventions geared towards fast tracking judicial activities and reducing delays of pendency of cases.
Specialized courts can only be relevant and significant when they are constitutionally established and judges specifically appointed for the courts. In that regard, they can operate independent of other courts.Over reliance of the judiciary on the executive- especially state government has not helped in funding, financing of facilities and welfare of both judicial officers and the support staff.
But fiscal autonomy does not necessarily translate to sufficiency in funding. Nigeria’s judicial officers are still poorly paid compared to the legislature and the judges of other countries. The welfare of judicial officers is nothing to write home about either. The resonating argument is that accountability and transparency are deficit- indicators among the leadership of the judiciary.