The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, Hon. Justice K. M. O. Kekere-Ekun, GCON, delivered the keynote address at the opening of the 3rd Annual National Conference on Judges’ Performance Evaluation held on October 15-16, 2024 at the National Judicial Institute in Abuja.

In her speech, the CJN emphasized the need for judges to enhance their performance and reduce case backlogs in order to maintain public trust and confidence in the judiciary. She noted with concern that as of the 1st quarter of 2024, there were 243,253 cases pending in Nigeria’s superior courts of record, excluding the Supreme Court. This consisted of 199,747 civil cases and 43,506 criminal cases.

To address this challenge, Justice Kekere-Ekun urged judges to embrace technology tools such as digital case management systems, virtual courtrooms, e-filing, and online research databases to improve efficiency. She also encouraged the use of alternative dispute resolution methods like mediation and arbitration to resolve cases more quickly.

The CJN highlighted the recent passage of the Judicial Officer Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) Act, 2024 as a positive step to promote judicial independence and performance. However, she called for reforms in how judicial performance is evaluated, arguing that the current system based mainly on number of contested cases disposed does not fully capture a judge’s productivity.

Justice Kekere-Ekun thanked the National Judicial Council’s Performance Evaluation Committee, chaired by Hon. Justice S. Bage Muhammed I, CFR, for their efforts and urged all judges to uphold the highest standards of integrity and excellence in their work. She declared the conference open and wished participants successful deliberations.

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