Olisa Agbakoba, the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has charged Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the newly appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to restore the “declined” confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary.
In a statement on his X handle on Saturday, Agbakoba declared that the court system in Nigeria needs total overhauling to renew waning public trust.
“The new CJN must work very hard to rebuild public trust in the judiciary, which, sadly, has declined. There has to be a complete overhaul of the operating model of the courts,” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said.
He noted that the immediate job begging for attention is to ensure speed in the dispensation of justice as this will bring back the lost trust in the legal system.
The maritime lawyer added that the courts need new procedures in its operations to conform with modern standards.
“To take up to 20 years for cases to crawl up to the Supreme Court gives little confidence to anyone, not least investors.
“The current rules are a modified version of the English rules in England, just under 100 years ago,” said Agbakoba.
According to him, achieving a new, modern operating model is not necessarily by the appointment of a bench of new judges, but by enhancing the capacity and productivity of each judge.
For Agbakoba, the only CJN who created the momentum for transformation in the judiciary was the late Dahiru Musdapher. But his tenure lasted only for six months.
Recommending the Musdapher’s report to the present CJN, Agbakoba said judges must be enabled, through transformational rules of procedure, “to work 24/7”, adding that courts must never close as a claimant may file an action at midnight.
“A judge must have what is called case management powers to deal with cases expeditiously, with the fundamental objective of speed and delivering results to court users,” Agbakoba explained.
“In much the same way a medical doctor treats patients with measurable results, the introduction of modern tools and rules of procedure will change the face of our courts,” he further noted.
Kekere-Ekun was recently appointed by President Bola Tinubu upon the retirement of Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.
Her appointment has been confirmed by the Senate making her the second female CJN in the history of the country.
