National programme manager of RoLAC II, International IDEA, Danladi Plang, has highlighted areas where reforms are needed in the judiciary in the.ongoing National Summit on Justice 2024 in Abuja.
According to him, it is important to reform the judiciary, if the country is interested in attracting investors.
At the summit, President Bola Tinubu had said much can be achieved when institutions of government, including the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, unite to acknowledge their challenges and brainstorm with a view to proffering solutions to the problems bedeviling Nigeria.
Tinubu urged the judiciary to align its activities within the tenets of his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly as they relate “to the priorities on inclusivity, fairness, rule of law, and anti-corruption stance, among other things”.
At the event, organized in collaboration with the European Union funded Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption, RoLAC II, International IDEA, the President noted, however, that despite progress being made in the justice sector, there “is an urgent need for a functional justice system capable of supporting a rapidly growing economy, guaranteeing basic human and political rights of individuals, and providing security and justice to all.”
RoLAC’s national programme manager said public servants should be held accountable for their actions in the offices they occupy.
Plang said, “Improving the efficiency of the justice system is important not only for commercial cases but also criminal cases. We have seen many people detained for a very long time because their case has not been heard. This will increase citizens’ lack of confidence, you need the justice system to increase confidence even as the government as a whole.
„Second area we need reform is in the area of accountability of the justice institutions themselves. It‘s important that institutions that hold people to account must be accountable. If the Judiciary must hold people to account, police must hold people to account, EFCC must hold people to account, it means they also must be accountable.
„Third, we can incorporate our traditional justice system into the formal justice system. Statistics have shown that about 80% of dispute are not resolved in our normal justice system they are resolved by traditional justice system, traditional rulers, families, clans also resolve issues, so can we find a way to include the traditional justice system to ensure that when people go there they are happy, it would reduce the workload in the court dockets.
„We need reforms to ensure that when people are charged with offences they don‘t remain in custody indefinitely Cases should be tried on time, delay impedes on witnesses willingness to come and testify. If a case is on for 10 years the witnesses may no longer be there.“
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