HRH Hon. Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad I, CFR, Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) Performance Evaluation Committee, delivered comprehensive remarks 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.
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Justice Muhammad began by welcoming the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Hon. Justice K. M. O. Kekere-Ekun, GCON, and expressing gratitude for her support and attendance. He emphasized the CJN’s commitment to optimal performance by Nigeria’s judiciary.
The Chairman provided historical background on the Performance Evaluation Committee, which was established in 2003 based on recommendations from the Hon. Justice Kayode Eso Committee to improve the performance and ethical conduct of judicial officers. He introduced the committee members and outlined their mandate as provided in the National Judicial Policy.
Turning to the theme of “Judge Craft, Performance and the Way Forward,” Justice Muhammad stressed the need for judicial officers to constantly adapt, self-improve, and self-examine in order to excel in their duties. He raised alarm about two critical issues: the growing backlog of pending cases (243,253 as of Q1 2024, up from 137,442 in Q2 2018) and the consistently low performance of some judicial officers.
On the latter issue, the Chairman revealed that the NJC had decided at its 106th meeting that persistently low-performing judges should be recommended for removal. While emphasizing that the committee’s purpose is not to intimidate judges, he made clear that repeated non-performance, submission of false returns, or impunity would not be tolerated.
Justice Muhammad outlined several initiatives by the committee to support judicial officers and enhance performance, including “Show Cause Meetings,” a commendation and query register, guidelines on performance evaluation, and the Judges’ Performance Evaluation Software for online submission of quarterly returns. He also reported on efforts to establish a new evaluation system focusing on both qualitative and quantitative indicators.
The Chairman expressed confidence that the contributions of the conference participants would help identify issues deterring the achievement of a more efficient, effective, and transparent justice system and generate pragmatic solutions. He reiterated the committee’s dedication to fairly and meticulously assessing each quarterly return from the 1,319 judicial officers under its purview.
In closing, Justice Muhammad expressed gratitude to the CJN, resource persons, participants, hosts at the National Judicial Institute, members of the organizing committee, and the Secretary of the NJC, Ahmed Gambo Saleh, Esq., for their contributions to the conference.
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