El-Rufai Blames 1999 Constitution For Inability To Appoint More Judges

The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has blamed the 1999 Constitution for the state’s inability to appoint more High Court judges.

The Governor, who expressed hope that the ongoing constitutional review process will address the situation, said those who drafted the constitution foisted a unitary judiciary on a federation.

He said this at the swearing-in of new High Court judges, commissioners, members of statutory commissions, and chief executives of Kaduna State Government agencies, held at the Council Chambers of Sir Kashim Ibrahim House on Friday.

“I congratulate the new High Court judges on their appointment. Left to us, we should be swearing in many more persons as judges today,” El-Rufai said.

“The credibility and effectiveness of the law and order strategy depend on the speedy dispensation of justice.

“Speedy justice cannot be dispensed by overworked judges. We want to lighten the burden of our judges but our ability to appoint more of them is constrained because the National Judicial Council has to recommend to us to appoint.

“This is an anomaly introduced by the drafters of the 1999 Constitution who effectively foisted a unitary judiciary on a federation.

“We hope that the ongoing constitutional review process will remedy this contradiction so that we can double the number of high court judges we have in Kaduna State because we can pay for them, we can take care of them and we can lighten their workload accordingly.”

The Governor congratulated the newly sworn-in officials, adding that he repositioned some of them so that they will have a rounded view of government.

He said, “I want to use the opportunity to congratulate all our officials that have been sworn in today. Many of them have been with us since 2015. Many are on their third or fourth jobs.

“This is how we do it in this administration. We move people around so that they will have a rounded view of government.

“What we are doing is that we are preparing leaders for the future. We hope that among those we have sworn in today will be a future governor of Kaduna State.

“They will only be able to do that job well if they have a rounded view of government, not being in one ministry, department or agency for eight years.

“Every job in public service is important, from the person that cleans the toilet to the commissioner and the governor, they are all equal.

“There is no demotion in public service because we are serving the people of Kaduna State.”