*Survey of 50,961 People in 38 Countries Finds Only Half of Africans Believe Courts Deliver Justice, Nigeria Near Bottom
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Nigeria Ranks Among the Three Worst Performers in Africa on Access to Justice with Only 28% Confident Courts Deliver Justice, 74% Saying Judges Decide Based on Political Influence, and Only 9% Aware of Legal Aid Services, as Afrobarometer Report Based on 50,961 Interviews Across 38 Countries Reveals That Half of All Africans Cannot Obtain Justice Through the Courts
Nigeria has emerged as one of the three worst-performing countries in Africa on virtually every indicator of access to justice, according to a landmark new report by the Afrobarometer pan-African research network, which found that only 28 per cent of Nigerians are confident that ordinary citizens who are wronged can obtain justice in the courts, that 74 per cent believe judges frequently decide cases based on the influence of politicians and powerful people rather than the law, that only 9 per cent are aware of any legal aid services available to them, and that 59 per cent of Nigerians would first approach traditional leaders, traditional courts, or elders rather than the formal justice system when faced with a legal problem.
The report, titled “Concerns About Inequality and Lack of Integrity in the Courts Leave Access to Justice Out of Reach for Many Africans” and published as Afrobarometer Dispatch No. 1189 on June 2, 2026, is based on 50,961 face-to-face interviews conducted across 38 African countries during the 2024/2025 survey round, with Nigeria’s fieldwork conducted between June and July 2024. The research was authored by Carolyn Logan, Justin Verity, and Herve Akinocho.
The findings paint a devastating picture of access to justice both in Nigeria and across the continent, revealing that universal access to justice remains “a distant dream” for much of Africa, with only half of all Africans expressing confidence that ordinary citizens can obtain justice in the courts, leaving an equal number “still cut off from secure access to this critical right.”
Nigeria: Among the Bottom Three on Nearly Every Indicator
Nigeria’s performance on the report’s key indicators places it consistently among the worst three countries surveyed, alongside Comoros and Congo-Brazzaville, in what the report describes as countries where “access to justice faces especially serious crises.”
On the primary indicator of confidence in obtaining justice, only 28 per cent of Nigerians expressed confidence that ordinary citizens who are wronged can obtain justice in the courts. Only Comoros (28 per cent) and Congo-Brazzaville (26 per cent) performed as poorly. The 38-country average was 50 per cent, meaning Nigeria is 22 percentage points below the continental norm. Morocco (73 per cent), Tanzania (71 per cent), and Malawi (67 per cent) led the continent.
On the likelihood of receiving a fair resolution in court, only 38 per cent of Nigerians believed it was somewhat or very likely they could get a fair outcome, with 59 per cent saying it was unlikely. The continental average was 51 per cent.
On equal treatment under the law, only 24 per cent of Nigerians believed people are never or rarely treated unequally, meaning 74 per cent believe unequal treatment happens often or always. Only Gabon (23 per cent) performed worse. The continental average was 38 per cent.
On trust in courts, only 25 per cent of Nigerians said they trusted the courts “somewhat” or “a lot,” the third-lowest figure in the entire survey after Comoros (13 per cent) and Congo-Brazzaville (27 per cent). The 38-country average was 44 per cent, and trust has been declining continent-wide, dropping 10 percentage points from 59 per cent in 2011/2013 to 49 per cent in 2022/2023 across 30 tracked countries.
On whether judges decide cases based on law or political influence, only 23 per cent of Nigerians said judges rarely or never decide based on the influence of politicians, government officials, or other powerful people, the absolute lowest figure among all 38 countries surveyed. This means 74 per cent of Nigerians believe their judges are frequently influenced by powerful people rather than the law. The continental average was 41 per cent.
On awareness of legal aid services, only 9 per cent of Nigerians were aware of any legal aid services available to them, tied with Tunisia for the lowest awareness in the entire survey. The continental average was 25 per cent.
On the country-level summary table in the report, Nigeria did not achieve a score of 50 per cent or higher on any single indicator across all eight measures of access to justice, placing it in a group of nine countries that scored below the threshold on every measure.
Where Nigerians Turn for Justice: Traditional Leaders First
One of the most striking Nigeria-specific findings concerns where Nigerians say they would first go to resolve a legal problem. Nigeria is one of only three countries in the survey where a majority of respondents said they would first approach traditional leaders, traditional courts, or elders rather than the police, courts, or lawyers. Fifty-nine per cent of Nigerians chose traditional or informal mechanisms as their first point of contact, compared to only 24 per cent who would approach the police and 5 per cent who would use other formal mechanisms.
Only Lesotho (68 per cent) and Sierra Leone (59 per cent) showed a similar level of preference for informal justice mechanisms over the formal system. The continental average for turning to traditional leaders, courts, or elders was 26 per cent, meaning Nigeria’s figure is more than double the continental norm.
The report noted that preference for informal justice mechanisms is strongly associated with rural residence, poverty, and low education levels. Across the 38 countries, rural residents were significantly more likely to seek out traditional leaders (38 per cent) than urban residents (14 per cent). Those experiencing high levels of lived poverty were far more likely to rely on informal justice (41 per cent) than the wealthiest respondents (9 per cent). And among the least educated, a majority (53 per cent) would turn to informal mechanisms.
Officials’ Crimes Go Unpunished in Nigeria
The report also examined perceptions of impunity, asking whether officials who commit crimes go unpunished and whether ordinary people who break the law go unpunished.
In Nigeria, 67 per cent of respondents said officials who commit crimes often or always go unpunished, while only 30 per cent said the same about ordinary people. The 37-percentage-point gap between the two figures reflects a deep perception of selective justice, where impunity is seen as a privilege of the powerful rather than a generalised failure of the system.
Across the continent, the average was 56 per cent saying officials’ crimes often go unpunished, compared to 34 per cent for ordinary people.
Nigeria Strongly Supports the Death Penalty
On the question of capital punishment, Nigeria showed one of the highest levels of support for the death penalty among the 37 countries where the question was asked. Eighty-one per cent of Nigerians said the death penalty is a fair punishment for people who have committed the most serious crimes such as murder, while only 14 per cent said there is no crime for which the death penalty can be justified. Only Tunisia (85 per cent), Senegal (83 per cent), Comoros (82 per cent), and Botswana (82 per cent) showed higher support for capital punishment.
The Continental Picture: Justice Remains a Distant Dream
Beyond Nigeria, the Afrobarometer report reveals that access to justice remains deeply problematic across the continent, with widespread concerns about inequality, corruption, affordability, and the integrity of courts.
On the central question of confidence in obtaining justice, only 50 per cent of Africans across 38 countries said they were somewhat or very confident that ordinary citizens who are wronged can obtain justice in the courts. The remaining 48 per cent expressed little or no confidence.
On fairness, a bare majority of 51 per cent believed they could obtain a fair court outcome if they went to court, while 44 per cent thought it unlikely.
On timeliness, only 43 per cent believed cases are likely to be resolved in a reasonable time, while a majority of 52 per cent found this unlikely. Majorities were confident of timely resolution in only six countries.
On equal treatment, a majority of 59 per cent of Africans believed people are “often” or “always” treated unequally under the law. In eight countries, two-thirds or more thought unequal treatment was commonplace.
On affordability, fewer than half of Africans believed they could afford either legal advice (46 per cent) or the costs of taking a case to court (44 per cent), effectively putting access to formal justice mechanisms beyond the reach of a majority. Only one in four Africans (25 per cent) were aware of available legal aid services, although 53 per cent thought they could find legal help if needed.
Court Integrity: Low Trust, High Corruption Perceptions
The report found that trust in courts (44 per cent) and police (44 per cent) was low across the continent, falling well behind trust in traditional leaders (57 per cent) and religious leaders (64 per cent).
Eight in 10 citizens (81 per cent) said at least “some” judges and magistrates are corrupt, including 38 per cent who see “most” or “all” as corrupt. Perceptions were even worse for the police, with 86 per cent saying at least some are corrupt and 48 per cent saying most or all are.
A slim majority of 51 per cent of Africans believed judges often base their decisions on the influence of politicians and other powerful people rather than the law.
Wealth Determines Access
The largest differences in access to justice were related to individual economic status. The wealthiest respondents were much more confident they could obtain justice (61 per cent) than the poorest (43 per cent), an 18-percentage-point gap. Similar gaps were evident across nearly every indicator, from perceptions of equal treatment (45 per cent for the wealthiest vs 33 per cent for the poorest) to trust in courts (53 per cent vs 40 per cent) and ability to find legal support (66 per cent vs 47 per cent).
The report concluded that “another reason poorer people may choose informal justice mechanisms is that they see the formal court system as likely to serve the wealthy and well-connected, but not themselves.”
Gender Gaps Are Small, but Protection Needs Are Large
The report found only minor gender differences on key indicators of access to justice, with women and men expressing equal confidence (50 per cent each) in their ability to obtain justice. The largest differences were modest four-percentage-point gaps on affordability of legal support (48 per cent for men, 44 per cent for women) and court cases (46 per cent vs 42 per cent).
However, 29 per cent of women said they frequently face sexual harassment in public places, and 28 per cent said girl students face discrimination and harassment in schools. Seventy-nine per cent of women and 77 per cent of men said police and courts need to do more to protect women and girls.
Democracy Helps, But Not Enough
The report found that more democratic countries modestly outperformed non-democratic countries on most access-to-justice indicators. Fifty-five per cent of citizens in “free” countries (as classified by Freedom House) expressed confidence in obtaining justice, compared to 46 per cent in “not free” countries.
However, the relationship was not consistent. Ghana, rated as one of Africa’s most democratic countries, scored below 50 per cent on every access-to-justice indicator, making it one of the continent’s poorest performers despite its democratic credentials.
A stronger predictor of access to justice was presidential respect for the rule of law. Citizens who believed their president respects Parliament and the courts were much more likely (57 per cent) to be confident in their ability to obtain justice than those who believed their president ignores these institutions (41 per cent).
Penalties: Too Harsh for the Poor, Too Lenient for the Powerful
Across 38 countries, 33 per cent of respondents said punishments for ordinary people are too harsh, while only 13 per cent said they are too lenient. The findings were reversed for powerful people: only 10 per cent said their punishments are too harsh, while nearly half (48 per cent) said they are too lenient.
In every surveyed country, ordinary people were more likely than the powerful to be seen as treated too harshly, and the powerful were more likely than ordinary people to be seen as getting off too lightly.
Subregional Differences
North Africa performed best on most indicators, with 66 per cent expressing confidence in obtaining justice, fully double the level in Central Africa (33 per cent). The gap was nearly as wide for trust in courts (60 per cent in North Africa vs 31 per cent in Central Africa). East Africa and Southern Africa followed North Africa, while West Africa and Central Africa fell behind.
The “Justice for Sale” Parallel
The Afrobarometer findings resonate powerfully with concerns raised within Nigeria’s own legal profession. At the 2026 NBA Benin Branch Law Week, Senior Advocate Olukunle Edun SAN delivered a paper titled “Justice for Sale: Who Truly Pays the Price?” in which he warned that justice in Nigeria has been transformed from an inalienable right into “a purchasable commodity.”
Prof. Osaretin George Izevbuwa, a Professor of Law at Igbinedion University, Okada, also warned at the same event that corruption, political interference, and judicial manipulation were turning justice into a commodity, posing serious risks to democracy, economic growth, and public trust.
Izevbuwa described the judiciary as “the last hope of the common man” and warned that once judicial processes become vulnerable to influence, corruption, and manipulation, the foundation of constitutional democracy begins to weaken. He identified bribery, forum shopping, conflicting court orders, manipulation of court processes, and interference with case files as major channels through which justice is allegedly compromised.
Both the Afrobarometer data and the concerns raised by Nigerian legal practitioners point to the same conclusion: that access to justice in Nigeria is not merely a theoretical challenge but a lived reality in which the wealthy, powerful, and politically connected enjoy a fundamentally different experience of the justice system than the poor, vulnerable, and ordinary citizens who constitute the overwhelming majority.
Methodology
The Afrobarometer survey is a pan-African, nonpartisan research network that has conducted 10 survey rounds in up to 45 countries since 1999. The Round 10 surveys (2024/2025) covered 38 countries. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in the language of the respondent’s choice, yielding country-level results with margins of error of plus or minus two to three percentage points at a 95 per cent confidence level. The 38-country analysis is based on 50,961 interviews. Nigeria’s fieldwork was conducted between June and July 2024. The data are weighted to ensure nationally representative samples, and when reporting multi-country averages, all countries are weighted equally rather than in proportion to population size.
The report was published as Afrobarometer Dispatch No. 1189 on June 2, 2026.
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