*Lack of passion among judicial appointees sabotaging system
*Politicians infiltrating the court with poor leadership
A retired justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Amina Adamu Augie has decried the need for judicial reform. In a panel discussion at an event hosted by the Aig-Imoukhede Foundation, she stated clearly the particular reforms that the judiciary needs.
According to her, while she narrated her ordeal at the Court of Appeal in Lagos, at the foundation’s event, she stated that: one thing they don’t tell you about civil service is that; as long as it is not in writing, nobody is going to do anything about anything. We don’t report! This is as she stated that through experience, working at the civil service has demanded that things be documented so the right people can work on it. She further revealed that:
When we talk of the judiciary everyone looks at the judges, they look at the judicial officers, they forget it’s the staff that runs the whole place, that the lawyers have to file papers and everything has to be done, before we come to sit in court…So, they blame the court, they blame the judges without looking at the staff that run the place and have to put things together before those files are put there.
She further illustrates, through the career of a young lawyer, who having met a young registry staff at his early age in practice, subsequently rises to become a senior lawyer or a Senior Advocate of Nigeria after 36 years of practice and still meets that court official, who has stayed in the service for the same period. They can connive with the court official and hide the files of cases or the bailiff are bribed not file the case. However, when the judge comes to court she is then forced to take adjournments which can take about two years because the court is over worked.
She also mentioned how some of the court registry staff has worked for a long period of time. Recounting how about a hundred plus court staff have worked over twenty years; she further mentioned how she wrote to the service commission and over sixty of them were removed. Upon inquiry, she was told how some of this staff that clogs up the justice sector has ring leaders and god father who obstinately stand behind them and give them the effrontery to do what they do.
She places emphasis on leadership and how leaders should always stand to do the right thing. She mentioned emphatically how focus on money by the leadership of the court and its registry can result to decadence in leadership, according to her:
“Like I told somebody, the day your registrar comes to you and says “Amina how now” what does that mean; they are already telling you that you and me are in that business. If I respect myself, how dare you come to now talk like that”
She stated that there is need for a paradigm shift for reforms to happen and the need to train judicial officers. On training judicial officers, she call for the need of specialize colleges just like there are TV colleges that will train judicial officers to do their work with utmost professionalism.
She recounted her experience, being a member of the panel that remove Ngige and replaced Peter Obi as governor of Anambra State. She stated that it was at this case that politicians realized the power of the court. Knowing this, they started infiltrating the court rooms with their people as judges into the high
court and other courts. This way, they bring in people who do not have passion for the job. Knowing that, not everyone has the mindset to be in the judiciary, it sabotage the system.
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