The US Damning Report On Nigerian Judiciary

Editors Note; Written SUN Editorial

The United States Department of State, the other day, gave a damning report about corruption among Nigerian judicial officers, alleging that Nigerian judges receive bribes for favourable rulings. The allegations were contained in its “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2021.” Specifically, the report says that the country is rife with “massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption affecting all levels of government, including the judiciary and security services.” It also draws attention to the fact that the executive and legislative arms of government often interfere on judicial matters, thereby perverting the cause of justice dispensation.

Despite the fact that the Constitution and relevant laws of the land provide for an independent judiciary, the report says, political leaders in the country have continued to influence judges and lawyers, especially at state and local government levels. The most damning aspect of the report is the general perception that judges are easily compromised, that litigants could not rely on the courts to render impartial judgments.

In the prevailing situation, many citizens are said to have encountered long delays and reported receiving requests from judicial officials for bribes to expedite cases or obtain favourable rulings. Other factors said to have encouraged corruption of judicial officials include understaffing, inefficiency, and absence of further education requirements for judicial officials and attorneys.

Police officers in the country were often reportedly assigned to serve as prosecutors, thereby delaying the dispensation of justice. Due to poor salaries and allowances, judges fail to appear in courts even though the constitution and annual appropriation acts stipulate that the judicial officials be paid directly from the Federation Account as statutory transfers before other budgetary expenditures are made to maintain its autonomy and separation of powers.

This is said to be worse at the sub-national level, where state governments undermine the judiciary by withholding funding and manipulating appointments. Apart from judges, it accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission(ICPC) of focusing mainly on low and mid-level corruption cases while neglecting high-profile ones. The high-profile cases are the high road travelled by many exposed politicians.

According to the report, although the two anti-graft agencies often file indictments against various active and former high level- government officials, very often, the cases are stalled for political reasons, thereby deepening corruption cases. Although the US report did not disclose the parameters it used to arrive at its conclusions, some of its claims reflect the rot in the nation’s judiciary. Some years ago, the residences of some judges were raided in Abuja and Port Harcourt by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) over corruption allegations. Also, last year, the National Judicial Council (NJC) came hard on three High Court judges of concurrent jurisdiction for issuing conflicting ex parte orders on the same subject matter. Consequently, they were barred from promotion to the higher bench for a period of two to five years whenever they were due for such promotion. However, the bribery allegations against them were not conclusively proved. There are many of such cases still pending at the NJC.

Any country with a compromised judiciary is in trouble. Widespread corruption among judicial officials makes a mockery of the dictum that judiciary is the last hope of the common man. Where bribery is rife, miscarriage of justice is bound to occur. Corruption in the bench can explain why justice is made available to the highest bidder.

It is also hard to fault the conclusion that our judiciary is poorly funded and the remuneration of judges abysmally low when compared with other countries. In spite of the extant provision that the judiciary should be funded from the Federation Account to enhance its autonomy and independence, that provision is still observed in the breach, especially at the state level. We also agree that many high-profile corruption cases are pending before the courts due to administrative or procedural delays. Though our laws provide sanctions against corruption, sometimes those convicted are given state pardon based on inexplicable political reasons. Based on the damning nature of the US report, we urge the government to study it and see how it can use it to improve the performance of our judicial officials, particularly the judges.

We call for a thorough scrutiny of those to be appointed to the bench. Judges should at all times strive to live above board, in line with their professional ethics. For an enduring democracy and strong judiciary, we need courageous and fearless judges.