The First Task Chief Justice Kekere-Ekun Must Do – Olisa Agbakoba

A former Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) president, Olisa Agbakoba, has advised the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, on the first task she has to do to set the judiciary on the right path.

Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said the first task for Chief Justice Kekere-Ekun is to create a speed of justice programme. He added that the courts need new rules of procedure.

Agbakoba stated that Kekere-Ekun must work very hard to rebuild public trust in the judiciary which has declined.

“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. To take up to 20 years for cases to crawl up to the Supreme Court gives little confidence to anyone, not least investors. The first task is to create a Speed of Justice programme. The courts need new rules of procedure. The current rules are a modified version of the English rules in England, just under 100 years ago,” he said.

In a statement, on Saturday, the former NBA president noted that the time had come for Nigeria to operate a 24-hour judiciary. He added that the court “must never close“.

“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. Judges must be enabled, through transformational rules of procedure, to work 24/7.

“The courts must never close, 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. 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,” Agbakoba added.