‘Efficient justice delivery system sine qua non to development’

This year, 2016, the Nigerian judiciary is expected to be more challenged as a result of the ongoing fight against corruption as President Mohammadu Buhari is establishing a government that is accountable to the people.
This requires that the judiciary must brace to tackle the numerous corruption cases that will be brought to its doorsteps. But only an efficient, well-funded and corrupt-free judiciary will meet this target, as our guest, Layi Babatunde, (SAN), suggests in this interview he granted to YETUNDE AYOBAMI OJO. But he warns that the fight against corruption should not derogate the rule of law and that government should regularly review the process to remain focused.

HOW did the judiciary perform in the year 2015?

Well, within the resources available to the judiciary as opposed to other arms of government, I think they did their best. As With every human endeavour, there is always room for improvement. There were concerns about certain developments and decisions by some courts, particularly on electoral and corruption cases. Those concerns and criticisms do not derogate from the fact that our Bench is peopled by quite a number of fine Jurists in terms of learning, industry and integrity. As expected, whatever the judiciary does, people are bound to raise opinions. Fortunately, the judiciary has a self-regulating process in the sense that it tries to clean itself of bad eggs from time to time. This it has continued to do. However, one cannot deny the fact that in-spite of these efforts there still remains lingering concerns about the presence of some bad eggs who continue to give the Bench a bad name.
The task now is to weed out of the system those people who are not supposed to be there in the first place. Come to think of it, a judge who decides cases in ignorance is as dangerous as a corrupt judge. Indeed in some cases, such judges constitute a threat to national security and our collective wellbeing. It hurts, really, to see that a few bad ones are giving an otherwise fantastic judiciary a bad name. The truth is, there are judges who are even over burdened by volume of cases and poor infrastructural support and yet they do their job as demanded by their judicial oath. We owe such judges a debt of gratitude. One cannot but feel their pains. The cleansing and performance process should be reinvigorated and I believe that it is possible by the grace of God, particularly, with the apparent commitment of the Chief Justice of Nigeria that we achieve a judiciary of our collective dream. The process may be slow, but we will surely get there.

Now that we are in a new year, what should the judiciary focus on more going forward?

The Judiciary along with other stakeholders need to see how we further expedite the process without compromising on fair and efficient justice delivery. To this end, I believe there is the need to rethink the proposal on the budgetary provision for the judiciary. In my estimation, justice delivery touches on the security and well being of society and how you can get investors coming or not. You cannot afford to target the judiciary to make savings, because at the end of the day, it will become counter-productive. The judiciary is not about saving money. So, cutting down on their budget wont really fly and will not be in our best interest at whatever level, state or federal.

If you are talking of judiciary being more efficient, serving the needs of justice or getting the right people to work on the Bench, then, it needs to be equipped in terms of books, law reports and all other essentials. Like I did mention, justice is the first condition of our existence. If we want to maintain the kind of equilibrium that requires orderliness and get people to have confidence in the system, the judiciary needs everyone’s support. I say this because justice delivery is rooted in confidence. Poverty-stricken judges cannot deliver judgment that will inspire confidence in the people. Courts that are dilapidated; that are looking so rough cannot inspire confidence in the people who attend proceedings in such courts. The environment of any court should inspire confidence in the people that come and sit and have their cases attended to. Even the judges, when they sit, the environment should inspire them to deliver on their assignments.

Judges sitting under a leaking roof; no light and in some cases, basic things like microphones are not working; power supply epileptic and the recording system neither good nor bad, can’t be on the top of their game. I had reason to say this before and I will repeat it here that a system where government agencies are sponsoring judges to seminars and conferences is uncalled-for. The reason is that sometimes, they are parties to proceedings pending in courts before these judges, so how can they pay for judges’ trainings?

No serious investor wants to invest in a country where he knows that when something goes wrong, you won’t get justice or get it in good time. No matter how much you try to assure them that their investment is save and their lives secured, they will go and do their due diligence check to be sure that the justice delivery system is fair and efficient. Therefore, since we believe that we deserve a good justice delivery system, let us pay for it and ensure things work better.

Of course, as the President said, our economy is challenged. But notwithstanding, providing for the judiciary is a necessity and not a favour. For instance, you don’t owe judges salaries. How can you do that? It is dangerous. Justice delivery is too critical and most of the crises we see in the world today have their root in poor and ineffective remedial system. No gain saying that the state of most of our court registries need complete overhaul to serve the interest of justice in the 21st Century. In most cases the registries are too poorly equipped to support a well functioning judiciary. From service of process to execution of judgments it can be frustrating. We need to arrest this imbalance and take ourselves more seriously before others can.

The federal government is bent on loots recovery. What is your take on this?

Absolutely great and welcomed, so long as it is done as provided by law without resort to self-help. Whether it is stolen or looted money or any other matter, it is the same principle that applies to the state as well as the individual. There are enough laws in our statute books to take care of such people.

Again, there must be well-equipped and functioning judiciary ready to do its job. It’s all like a chain; they are all-interrelated, but in dealing with this serious issue that has confronted us and retarded our growth and development for years, we must be clear in our mind, this time around what we want to achieve and within what time frame. It is not enough to take somebody to court; we must have an eye on when and how the process will end, against what we set out to achieve. I may be wrong, but it will impact negatively on the government if after taking people to court the process ends up in smoke! I think we need to be careful and be sure what we want to achieve and how best. Government no doubt must and is sending a strong message to people who take pride in stealing from our common purse, that it is actually a dangerous adventure to embark on. Anything short would not be good enough for the system but we must explore best practices fit for our current situation.

The President has constituted an advisory body that has been set up like a think-tank that can figure out some of these things, which is headed by an eminent professor of law, Itse Sagay. I believe the committee is a good compliment to what is on the ground. So much is required to be done but the time is short. On a long-term basis it is clear we need to find an enduring solution to the funding of the activities of political parties. We seem not to be able to solve this problem from the first republic till now and it’s been a major contributor to corrupt practices.