Vice president Yemi Osinbajo says merit should be priority in the appointment of judicial officers to ensure credibility and preservation of the justice system.
This is as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad advocated for constitutional reforms that will expand the number of judges.
Their positions were canvassed at a webinar focused on the “selection and appointment of judges – lessons for Nigeria”.
Appointment of judges has sometimes been quite controversial even though the constitution provides a straightforward guideline on the process. It is common knowledge that interests, other than merit have been deployed by politicians to frustrate the best from attaining judicial positions.
The result has been poor justice delivery, questionable judgements and conflicting rulings which have contributed to creating a credibility crisis for the judiciary.
Osinbajo who is a law teacher and senior advocate of Nigeria is pushing for a rigid merit driven system that will ensure the best are selected and appointed to the bench.
The keynote speaker, Dame Rafferty who is also a former justice of the court of appeal in England and a justice of the supreme court of Ghana, Justice Samuel Sau shared experiences which Nigeria could learn from.
For all of the recommendations to sail through, legislative support is crucial and that came from the Senate President, Ahmed Lawal and the Speaker House of Reps, Femi Gbajabiamila who also participated in the webinar.
For Justice Tanko Mohammed, a fundamental part of the reform is an expansion in the number of Justices of the Supreme Court to speed up the appeal processes.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
