By Sonnie Ekwowusi
The only obstacle hindering the expeditious administration of justice in our courts in Nigeria is human corruption NOT technical problems such as court rules and procedures.
To facilitate easy access to substantial justice in our courts, we have to begin by getting rid of administrative injustice unleashed by court personnel-court Registrars, court bailiffs, court file carriers, court messengers etc- which begets legal injustice . Look, if a Registrar or the court bailliff has ruined your case, you cannot get legal justice before the judge
Until we get rid of the civil service bureaucracy and red tapism it would be pretty difficult to expedite justice in our courts.
The problem does not reside in the court rules or procedures. After all the same Wolf system used in the UK is used in Nigeria. But it is not working well in Nigeria. Why? Because of who we are in Nigeria- the civil service corrupt structures
My suggestion:
Appoint UPRIGHT lawyers to the Bench. Banal law does not make a good judge: good judges are made by integrity and uprightness.
Second: Our judges should be made to attend an annual Conference on principles of logic, Philosophy and Metaphysics and the real meaning of justice. I can get excellent instructors to facilitate it for them.
You see, Justices Oputas, Esos, Uwaifos Idigbes, Oguntades of the glorious Supreme Court excelled not because of mere knowledge of the law; they excelled because they were men of letters and Classics.
Sonnie Ekwowusi
