Our expectations from Buhari on justice sector – SANs, lawyers

Change must be backed by law- NBA President, Augustine Alegeh, SAN

In every democracy, it is the law that drives the democracy by having legal frameworks on issues. For instance, in view of the current situation we find ourselves, all laws regulating the petroleum sectors should be reviewed. There must be changed based on law. Funding of the judiciary has to be addressed via constitution amendment. There should be changes in the legislative arm of government and the way we appoint judges and Chief Justices of Nigeria (CJN). The incoming Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, did it in Lagos State when he was the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice. He should be made to head the team to review our laws. The bills for amendment of laws must be driven. We expect that power, infrastructural development, job creation and sustained fight against corruption would form the fulcrum of the new administration’s policy. To tackle these issues, the administration should be prepared to make new laws because many of our laws are archaic for the challenges ahead. The act of proposing and dumping bills at the National Assembly, NASS, should be discouraged. There is a need to have a new engagement between the NASS and Executive. The new administration should have a policy direction with the NASS.

Enforcement of fundamental rights and rule of law paramount —Yusuf Ali, SAN

There is need for serious reform of the justice sector, and we have been very lucky that our chief justices in the last couple of years have taken this matter seriously. It is a good thing that the government should support the judiciary in this quest, especially our criminal justice system must be upgraded to meet the modern times. The same thing with the administration of commercial law practice to encourage, not only the indigenous investors but the foreign investors.

And for the government to achieve some of these, there is the need to pay a passionate attention to the personal emoluments of the judicial officers. When you talk about the independent of the judiciary you are not talking only about the capital expenditure and recurrent, Judges should be paid substantive money that will make bribe unattractive to anybody.

And of course there is need for government to strengthen the issue of observance of the fundamental human rights and the rule of law. There is going to be serious need to reform our police system, that is, total reorientation and rehabilitation of the Nigeria police. The men of the police must appreciate the fact that they are answerable to all their actions. The same thing goes for the armed forces, there must be critical orientation for us to have good observance of the rule of law. All these and others will help in reforming of our justice system.

Incoming president must be tolerant of dissent – Tani Molajo, SAN
The incoming president, most certainly, has his job cut out for him and there is no time to waste. He must hit the ground running so that, without delay, he and his team can begin to impact the key ailing areas of our national life. He must plug those holes in our national purse from which our commonwealth leaks into the pockets of corrupt government functionaries. This is the only way by which real economic development can take off and be sustained.

He must grow our democratic institutions. In this second outing as head of state, he must constantly remind himself that he is not the absolute ruler he once was. He must now be tolerant of dissent. Indeed, he must welcome dissent because opinions improve when subjected to national debate and review. The opposition will be quick to draw attention to any indication, real or apparent, that the president is an autocrat not a democrat.

Independence of the judiciary must be preserved, Former NBA President, J.B. Daudu SAN
No modern society can survive without the rule of law; this administration must ensure that all are equal before the law. The independence of the judiciary must also be preserved and all justice sector reforms embarked upon by the out-going administration must be steadfastly continued and implemented. Justice must reach the grass roots.

Government must be law abiding—Chief Robert Clarke, SAN,

I wish the government to be law abiding and the harbinger of the observance of the rule of law at all times.

Government must be peoples’ servants, not rulers — Babatunde Fashanu, SAN

Rule of law as opposed to rule of force means subjecting everyone and everything to the Laws of the land including the president and all in his administration. It means by words and actions showing that all in the administration that were voted into power by the people are really the people’s servants and not their masters. That is ensuring everyone and everything to be governed by the Laws of the country rather than enthroning arbitrariness and autocracy.

The First thing to do is to seriously and jealously be governed by the Nigerian Constitution and other Laws to the letter. Inasmuch as we are all very optimistic and expectant of a strong leadership by President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, especially in the area of fighting corruption and turning the rot in the economy around, he must tread cautiously though firmly. This is because fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution must not be trampled upon especially in the area of fair hearing and freedom of expression and the press as this is a democratic dispensa-tion different from the military regime he led decades ago. To achieve his obvious anti-corruption aims, the president must immediately take steps to strengthen the law enforcement bodies like the Nigerian Police, SSS and the like and make specialized anti-corruption bodies like the EFCC and ICPC more efficient and more independent without much interference by the executive.

Finally, the Judiciary has a big and pivotal role to play. The administration should continue to allow the Judiciary to be independent. However, it should enthrone reforms to enable more expeditious dispatch of cases especially corruption cases. A wholesale reform cannot be done without serious amendments of the Constitution, so, he should work with the National Assembly in this area.

Buhari should not pay lip service to rule of law — Lai Babatunde, SAN

The incoming administration must be deliberate in ensuring and guaranteeing the enthronement of the rule of law without which our democracy will be endangered. If the administration pays lip service to Rule of Law and qualitative justice delivery, investments will be threatened, investors scared away and our economy in deeper pit, with attendant multiplier effect of unemployment, unbridled impunity, gang wars.
It is in the best interest of the incoming administration and our country, that we adhere to the Rule of Law as matter of state policy and enthrone Justice delivery, so that the consequences of failure in that regard will not haunt us all.

War against corruption to start from anti-corruption agencies — Fred Agbaje
Without the new government being told of their priorities, it is witnessed to the events of the last one months. What has been happening in the last six months is what we called economic recession. The economic recession in term of fuel crisis. The agenda of the incoming government must be ready to clean the Augean’s stable. The Augeans stable this time is the NNPC, the DPR, and all the agencies relating to oil marketing and production. The so called oil subsidy must stopped. The money meant for subsidy can be used to develop our refineries and infrastructures.
Also, for the fight of corruption to be credible, it has to start from the institutions fighting against corruption. The government must overhaul the anti corruption agencies and the law setting them up must be looked into while those who have overstayed in the system must be removed.

Buhari should abolish impunity —Monday Ubani, ex NBA Ikeja chairman
One of the greatest expectations of Nigerians on GMB’s government is abolition of impunity in the system and the enthronement of rule of law and order in the country. What you see all over the place is lawlessness and disrespect to simple rules and regulations. We must nip impunity in the bud and enthrone constitutionalism and supremacy of law rather than supremacy of individuals.

The justice delivery system must be totally overhauled and repositioned for efficiency. We must start with appointment of judicial officers. The system of appointment is totally flawed. The Federal government should not be the one to determine the personnel requirements of the States in terms of judicial recruitment. The recruitment should be thrown open with certain inputs from the members of the general public. The bad eggs in the system are becoming large by the day due to the corrupt system of recruitment.

The basic infrastructures that makes for effective justice delivery must be put in place.
Our judiciary must be respected as third arm of government, its independence must be guaranteed and secured. We recommend proper discipline of erring judges and any erring legal practitioners. We must constantly reform and rewrite our substantive and procedural laws to be in tandem with modern realities. If we do all these and much more, we can safely be guaranteed of an efficient justice delivery system.

Incoming govt should address snail-speed administration of justice — Chief Morah Ekwunoh
The incoming government should, pronto and in toto, visit, favourably, the hydra-headed and recurring decimal inherent in grant of full financial autonomy to the judiciary, in the strict terms of judgment of the federal high court.

A situation where heads of our courts go to the executive arms of governments at the federal and state levels, cap in hand and on bent knees, for misery titration of constitutionally allocated and judicially sanctioned funds due and accruing to them, to say the least, are clearly antithetical to much- needed independence of the judiciary, apart from them constituting clear and unmistakable derogation from institutional mechanism for efficient administration of justice.

Crass corruption within the justice sector, wherein sacred cows, as exemplified by the super-rich and haves, on one hand, and the downtrodden, voiceless and have-nots, on the other hand, have clearly and diametrically opposed measures of justice administration, call for urgent redress, in the strict terms of the incoming administration’s avowed inclination for progressive reforms.