Former Lagos State Governor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Babatunde Fashola, has called for the judiciary to be treated as a critical part of Nigeria’s economic infrastructure, arguing that the effectiveness of courts directly affects investment, property rights, commercial activity and public confidence in the justice system.
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Fashola made the call on Tuesday while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 New Legal Year Summit in Lekki, Lagos, themed “Justice as an Economic Infrastructure: Strengthening the Judiciary for Africa’s Fifth Largest Economy.”
He urged stakeholders to go beyond examining the justice system only through legal doctrine, procedure and advocacy, and instead assess the actual experience of litigants, businesses, lawyers and other users who depend on the courts.
According to him, the judiciary should be evaluated in practical terms, including how long cases take, how efficiently commercial disputes are resolved, whether judgments are effectively enforced and whether litigants ultimately obtain meaningful remedies.
Fashola said the summit provided an opportunity for the legal community and judiciary to ask fundamental questions about the accessibility, responsiveness and effectiveness of the justice system.
“This initiative, in my view, invites us to look at justice beyond the precepts of legalism and all of the advocacy that takes place, and to see the essence of justice and the judiciary as a science,” he said.
The former governor argued that one of the most important questions for the judiciary should be whether people who use the courts are actually receiving the quality of service they expect.
To answer that question objectively, Fashola proposed the commissioning of a professional survey of users of the Lagos justice system.
He said such a survey should measure the average lifespan of cases from filing to conclusion, the efficiency with which commercial disputes are handled and the effectiveness of judgment enforcement.
According to him, the justice system cannot be considered fully effective merely because a judgment has been delivered if the successful litigant is unable to obtain the relief or economic benefit awarded by the court.
Fashola urged stakeholders to establish how long an average case takes in Lagos and determine whether the duration corresponds with the expectations of litigants and businesses.
He also drew attention to disputes involving land and property, stressing that land remains a major foundation for capital formation, investment and business activity.
The former governor said delays in resolving property disputes could therefore have wider economic consequences, particularly where assets needed for investment or commercial development remain tied up in prolonged litigation.
He also questioned whether the Lagos judiciary was sufficiently responsive to the needs of businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, which may be less able than large corporations to absorb the financial consequences of lengthy court proceedings.
Fashola recalled earlier reforms introduced into the Lagos justice system, including changes to court rules and procedures, the introduction and expansion of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, frontloading of processes and the recruitment of younger lawyers.
He said those reforms demonstrated the value of periodically subjecting the justice system to institutional review rather than assuming that reforms which worked in the past would remain sufficient for present-day realities.
According to him, the central question should now be whether the reforms already undertaken continue to meet the demands of litigants, businesses and society.
Fashola also advocated greater use of informal and alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms, arguing that not every disagreement necessarily requires full-scale litigation before the conventional courts.
He said the continuing development of ADR could ease pressure on the formal court system, particularly in disputes involving customary, family, community or other matters capable of being resolved through less adversarial mechanisms.
The former Works and Housing Minister said stakeholders should continue examining whether disputes could be channelled to appropriate mechanisms that provide faster and more effective resolution while allowing judges to concentrate on cases that require formal adjudication.
Fashola further challenged the judiciary to examine its institutional role as an independent arm of government and how it relates with citizens who rely on it for redress.
As part of that process, he called for the establishment of a judicial ombudsman through which litigants and other users of the court system could lodge complaints concerning their experiences.
He argued that an independent mechanism for receiving feedback and complaints could help the judiciary better understand recurring problems affecting court users and provide an additional avenue for institutional accountability and improvement.
The former governor’s proposals centred on treating the administration of justice not merely as a constitutional or legal function but as an essential component of economic development.
His position is that businesses, investors and individuals require predictable dispute-resolution mechanisms, enforceable contracts and timely determination of property and commercial rights for economic activity to flourish.
Fashola therefore urged the judiciary and legal profession to continue reviewing existing reforms, obtain empirical information directly from court users and identify areas where further institutional changes may be required.
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