The Nigerian Senate is considering a bill to increase the number of Supreme Court Justices from the current 21 to 30 in a bold move aimed at addressing the mounting backlog of cases and enhancing the efficiency of the apex court.
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Senator Osita Izunaso, representing Imo West Senatorial District, made this disclosure on Friday during a press briefing in Abuja marking his second year in the 10th National Assembly.
Izunaso, who is sponsoring the proposed legislation, argued that despite the 2023 appointments that brought the court to its constitutional capacity of 21 justices for the first time in Nigerian history, the caseload at the Supreme Court remains unmanageable.
“Even with the full complement of 21 justices, the Supreme Court is overwhelmed,” he said. “The volume of cases reaching the court daily is alarming. Some litigants are being given hearing dates as far ahead as 2027 and 2028.”
The lawmaker noted that increasing the number of justices would allow for the formation of more panels to expedite the judicial process. “Supreme Court justices typically sit in panels of five or seven for constitutional matters. With 30 justices, we can have at least five panels sitting simultaneously. This will significantly improve the pace at which cases are handled,” he explained.
Beyond increasing the number of justices, Izunaso is also pushing for sweeping reforms in the nature of cases that reach the Supreme Court. He lamented what he described as “judicial congestion caused by trivial matters” such as land disputes, tenancy issues, and divorce cases.
“Why should a land matter in my village end up at the Supreme Court?” he asked rhetorically. “These are cases that should begin at the Customary Court and, at most, end at the High Court. The Supreme Court should be reserved for matters of national or constitutional importance — terrorism, homicide, and grand corruption.”
The senator revealed that even routine landlord-tenant disagreements now reach the apex court. “Do you know that even tenancy disputes — like ‘pay me my rent’ or ‘my landlord kicked me out’ — go all the way to the Supreme Court? This is clogging the system and delaying justice for more critical matters,” he added.
Sharing a personal experience, Izunaso said a case involving deceased parties was still fixed for a hearing in 2026, even though the matter had long been settled by their descendants. “That’s an indictment of our system,” he said.
While some legal analysts have proposed the establishment of regional Supreme Courts to ease the pressure on the national court, Izunaso dismissed the idea, advocating instead for better filtration mechanisms within the lower courts.
“A unitary Supreme Court preserves the sanctity and unity of our judicial system,” he stated. “What we need is not more apex courts, but better case screening at lower levels.”
Meanwhile, Senator Izunaso commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for conferring a posthumous national honour on Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the former Chairman of the defunct National Electoral Commission, who oversaw the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election.
Nwosu was awarded the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) during the 2025 Democracy Day celebrations.
Describing the gesture as “bold and commendable,” Izunaso recalled his efforts in the Senate to secure national recognition for the late electoral umpire.
“I urge the president to go a step further by naming the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after Professor Nwosu,” he said. “Even when our Senate motion for his recognition failed in the past, we stood our ground. Today, we feel vindicated.”
The bill proposing the expansion of the Supreme Court bench is expected to spark robust debate in the coming weeks as lawmakers and judicial stakeholders weigh the implications for Nigeria’s overstretched justice system.
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