THE NIGERIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM …Good, Bad And Ugly.

The Judiciary arm of government is responsible for interpreting the law of the land, while applying it in situations where they are necessary; this makes the job of the Judiciary a very critical one. The law of the land constitutes the bases upon which judgments are ruled; it is therefore fundamental that its interpretation and application be carried out with absolute alacrity and meticulousness.

The Nigerian Judicial System comprises of ‘the Body of Benchers’ and ‘the Bar’ itself. The Body of Benchers is a collection of the highest ranking legal practitioners in the country which is headed by the Chief Justice of the Federation. It also has as its members the respective Chief Judges of the States of the Federation and certain very reputable lawyers in the country, whereas the Bar is a body of all the barristers in the country. These together constitute the ‘Nigerian Legal Class’. The Nigerian Judicial System has come a long way, taking its origin from the colonial era. It was saddled with the responsibility of checking the activities of the Executive and Legislative arms of government. The Judiciary as a matter of fact, plays a very vital role in the development of the country considering the fact it is the mechanism that oversees to the usage and management of power in the country. If the power that is vested on the Executive and Legislative offices is not checked, the bulk of the citizenry will have lots of troubles and challenges to contend with.

The primary responsibility of the Judiciary is to ensure that the Executive and Legislative arms of government function within the ambits of the constitutional provisions made available to them. The Judiciary ought to stand isolated while performing its constitutional duty. It does not need any interference from the Executive or Legislature in carrying out its primary assignment. It operates independent of any external disturbances and functions with the constitutional power vested in its office. The Nigerian Judicial System has had lots of challenges to contend with. During the shambolic military era, the Judiciary was subjected to abject emasculation to the extent that it lost the substance to its name and only existed as a nomenclatural entity. To say the least, ‘the Judiciary sank into oblivion’. But with the advent of democracy came an organized political façade that accorded the Judiciary its rightful place as the watchdog of the polity. The importance of the Judiciary in any political system cannot be over-emphasized, hence the constitution provides for its absolute independence to enable it perform its sacred constitutional function without sentiments and reservations. In essence, the Judiciary is not answerable to any of the other two arms of government (Executive and Legislature) and reserves the veto power to speak for and foster the legal mandate of its jurisdiction. Let it be made point-blank that any political system without an effective and pro-active judiciary will show impinging signs of anarchy and chaos. That means, the absolute success and well-being of any political system is very much dependent on the efficacy of its judicature.

While trying to deal objectively with this topic so that all the facts that pertain to the present status of the Nigerian Judicial System are thoroughly highlighted, we shall be looking more at the lapses and current achievements of the entire system so that at the end, we would have treated the topic extensively in an unbiased light and to a conclusion where pragmatic measures for attaining a world judicial status are laid bare. The Nigerian Judicial System as far as its historical background is concerned, started out on a very excellent platform because during the colonial era when the British Government was desperate about establishing its ‘modus operandi and ethics of excellence’ in Africa, it had to ensure that everyone who must stand in the British Court to either advocate or solicit in any case must have received the optimum training from England on the rudiments and entire provisions of the English Law. And of course, the English Law was then the benchmark for determining the substantiality and authenticity of any other law or legal regulations. So, it was therefore possible for the likes of Honourable Justice Adetokumbo Ademola, Honourable Justice Rotimi Williams and Honourable Justice Teslim Olawale Elias to ascend to the top of the legal profession since they distinguished themselves as ‘legal luminaries’ in the English Law, and from which the Nigerian Law took its root.