Nigeria needs an effective, fair, humane, accessible and accountable justice sector, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Mr Olumide Akpata said on Tuesday.
Akpata made this known at the opening of the Justice Sector Summit 2022 in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Summit is being organised by the NBA and the Justice Research Institute in collaboration with The Konrad Adenauer Foundation, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and The Justice Reform.
It is with theme:”Devising Practical Solutions Towards Improved Performance, Enhanced Accountability and Independence in the Justice Sector”.
Akpata said fairness and accountability are critical building blocks for the socio-economic and political development of the nation.
” The theme touches on the appointment/selection and discipline of judges; independence and financial autonomy of our Courts so that justice is dispensed without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.
“It also touches on the efficiency and efficacy of the system to ensure that our courts perform optimally and that justice is dispensed with considerable speed and accuracy” he said.
These three areas according to Akpata would be the subject of the technical sessions to be facilitated by leading industry experts who are well equipped to do justice to the issues.
” The question we must ask ourselves today is simple: what is stopping us from providing justice to our people and what must we do to change it?
” If we are to effect the change, we must make a vision in this summit and commit to implementing them.
The reforms we must commit to are statutory and constitutional reforms, institutional and funding reforms, and manpower reforms.
” The lip service that we have paid to these reforms over the years must stop from today.
“In ending, it is pertinent to note that there is one reality that we often overlook but which lies at the heart of everything we do in the justice delivery sector of this country” he said.
Akpata said that there was no judicial officer in Nigeria that was called to the bench without being first called to the bar.
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” In my opinion therefore, we have paid far too much heed to the phony bar and bench divide that we have all become accustomed to and have allowed it sow deep-seated divisions that have only succeeded in hampering the effectiveness of the justice sector in Nigeria.
“Again, it is my hope that today marks the beginning of the end. I congratulate us all for this epoch-making summit.
” I wish to use this opportunity to appreciate all partners who laboured behind the scenes to ensure that this summit holds today. Your labour will not be in vain.
He therefore, assured all stakeholders of the readiness of the Bar to pursue the recommendations made in this summit with the vigor and grit that it requires.
” The justice sector of Nigeria will change, and it will happen in my lifetime. I leave us with the though provoking words of the sage, Mahatma Gandhi: “It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important.
“You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing.
” You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” he said.
Similarly, In her keynote address, Justice Amina Augie, Justice of the supreme court said the reforms should start now.
She added that it would not be right to shift the rot to our children to clean up.(NAN)
