Lawyers call for more judges, courts to reduce delays in justice delivery

They made the call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja.

The legal practitioners attributed delays in court cases to frequent adjournments, case backlogs, inadequate judges, missing case files, high filing and service fees and unnecessary arrests by security agencies.

Simon Agwu said litigants often failed to get justice on time and when they eventually did, it was usually too late.

“There are a lot of factors that contribute to delays in court cases, from litigants themselves, the lawyers and the judges.

“In fact, the whole justice system is involved in the delay,” he said.

Mr Agwu said failure by litigants to give their lawyers accurate information about the case or pay their lawyers often resulted in adjournments.

He also called for better facilities and increased manpower in the judiciary to ease judges’ workload.

“The system manpower is not enough, we don’t have enough judges such that you see a judge presiding over a large number of cases on the court’s docket in a day.

“The judge is human too so more judges should be employed, facilities should be put in place to ease the workload and artificial intelligence can also be incorporated into the system,” he said.

Abdullahi Muhammad, another lawyer, said unnecessary arrests by the police and high costs of filing fees, service of processes, bail bonds and legal services also contributed to delays.

Nanzim Alfred, a prosecutor, said judicial independence, creation of more courts, employment of more judges and upward review of judges’ salaries would help address the problem.

“The judiciary system needs to be independent and there is the need to create more courts and employ more judges and increase their salaries,” he said.

Mrs Elizabeth Tanko, a businesswoman, said she had been attending court for three years without a conclusion to her case.

“My matter has been on for the past three years. I am still hoping to get justice someday and I hope when I do, it is not too late.

“The court system in Nigeria is slow for the common man. From mention to hearing to judgment is a long process,” she said.

Another litigant, Emeka Kelechukwu, also urged the government to reform the judicial system.