Lawyers, including two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), have called for the reduction of the powers of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to accountability and public confidence in the nation’s judicial process.
They expressed concern that the increasing challenge of accountability, lack of transparency, and corruption among others, contribute to the dwindling public confidence in the judicial process.
These were part of the key issues that dominated discussions at a conference on accountability in the Judiciary held in Abuja on March 1.
Among the conferees were Jibrin Okutrpa (SAN), Adamson Adeboro (SAN), Mbasekei Martin Obono (the Coordinator of Tap Initiative), Victoria Benson, and Lillian Okenwa.
The event, with the theme: “Impact of judicial accountability on democratic Resilience and public trust in the legal system” was organised by Tap Initiative, with the support of Open Society Foundations.
In a communique made available on March 4, the conferees were of the view that the duty to restore the trust of the common man in the Judiciary rests on every member of the profession starting with the Judges and especially the heads of courts.
They urged the Judiciary to take urgent steps to improve transparency within its governance processes especially the appointment of judges.
The conference participants recommended that the office of the CJN should be unbundled especially as chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), National Judicial Institute (NJI), and Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC).
The conference equally recommended that the conversations will continue and that all Nigerians will make their voice heard and the judiciary would listen and not take the calls for accountability as a challenge to its authority but rather as an opportunity to win public trust again.
They stressed the need to strengthen the integrity requirement of the appointment of judges and make it more transparent.
The conference participants also called for the strengthening of the NJC to hold judicial officers accountable.
They added: “The code of ethics for judicial officers by the NJC needs no review but proper political will by the CJN to investigate and sanction erring judicial officers.”
The participants and discussants suggested that the conference should be made periodic to review the state of accountability in Nigeria’s judiciary.