A Member of the Crusade For Justice group, Richard Nwankwo, on Friday asked that the legal reforms being spearheaded by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, be taken a notch higher, through the overhauling of the appointment process, which confers the position of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on any person.
“It is ridiculous when you sit down and people are appointed and you are hearing the names of some judges for the first time,” he said, noting that the constitution does not insist that a person must have been practicing before being appointed.
Addressing issues concerning the judiciary on Sunrise Daily, Nwankwo said the current judicial reforms were in tune with the sentiments of lawyers and right thinking members of the society.
“We quite appreciate the difficulties that are inherent in the legal judicial system and occasionally, that plays out and that is what we are seeing in some jurisdictions now and I believe that a lot ought to be done. All hands should be on deck, especially from the perspective of the judiciary and we believe that that is presently being done but the pace at which these reforms are going on is not something to write home about,” he said.
Concerning the issue of corruption which the CJN had said was rampant among judiciary employees including secretaries, court registrars, process clerks and bailiffs nationwide, Nwankwo said: “she actually said the obvious”. But he argued that the CJN should have “gone beyond that”.
“There’s a lot of corruption going on also at the bench and we believe that the judiciary must fall back on the in-house cleansing system to purify some of these things” he said, noting that the issue was pretty embarrassing.
“We see that play out in all the courts and we have always maintained that the first thing must be done first and that is constant training and re-training.
“Also, we have to take into consideration the fact that the welfare package of some of these judiciary workers must also be captured, in a very brilliant manner, otherwise we still have indices of corruption as it is currently playing out.
“I think what we should focus on now is in bringing in new blood into the judiciary, especially at the lower segment. The system must be open. The system must be transparent and the issue of integrity must be elevated to a critical level, so that we just don’t bring in anybody into the bench.”
He noted that “a whole lot of political appointees are at the bench and that makes nonsense of the entire process.
“The process of appointment must be isolated from the ambiance of the executive and if that is not done we will still continue to muddle in the kind of mess we have now.”
He also called out the Lagos State Government for butting into the Nigerian Bar Association’s arrangement towards ensuring a “purified” system of appointment.
According to him, the elevation of people to the rank of Senior Advocate should undergo stringent reforms. He, however, said that there were obstacles on the path of change.
“Part of the challenges we are having under this present dispensation is the difficulty in effecting some of these amendments. “Some of these things are constitutionally designed in such a way that it would be extremely difficult for whoever wants to effect a change.”
“We believe that with the total and comprehensive involvement of all the stakeholders, it will be a lot easier.”
He noted that they were agitating that some of these processes must be refined and core practitioners and those who are in the industry should be allowed to have a say in some of these appointments.