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| Nigerian Judges |
GROUP URGES NJC TO REDUCE JUDGES’
VACATION PERIOD
By Ayuba Jacob
Monday, 31st July, 2017
A
group, known as “Access 2 Justice” (A2J), a human rights advocacy group has
called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to limit the annual vacation
period for Judges to nine weeks instead of the 12 weeks period that is
currently obtained.
The
group said that the 12 weeks cumulative period vacation being enjoyed annually
by the Nigerian Judges was too much, stressing that it was part of the reasons
why cases were delayed in Court.
In
a statement signed by the Deputy Director of the group, Dr. Adenike Aiyedun
titled “Superior Court Judges, recess too lengthy; need for review and reform
to reduce chronic Court delays” noted that while some countries had already
abolished long vacation for Judges by splitting and spreading Judges’ vacation
so as to ensure that the Courts were never closed, Nigerian Judges still enjoy
a long annual vacation of two months apart from taking two weeks at each of
Easter and Christmas periods.
A2J
viewed that while it was not oblivious of the enormity of the challenges being
faced by Nigerian Judges in the course of discharging their duties, there was
no justification for closure of courts for two months on account of Judges’
long annual vacation adding that the Nigerian (Superior Court) judiciary enjoys
one of the lengthiest vacation systems in the world further stressing that “even
though Nigerian has some of the most intractable problems of Court delays among
its peers around the world. As such, any efforts to reduce prolonged trial
delays must address the availability of Judges to sit in Courts at all times.”
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| Justice Onnoghen, Chief Justice of Nigeria |
According
to the statement, “The conundrum of access to Courts in Nigeria is widespread
and requires urgent attention and the judiciary has never quite been able to
surmount this problem in spite of some modest efforts to do so. Systematic
Court delays however, deny citizens effective access to justice and indeed,
derail justice and this must be combated in order to re-inspire public
confidence in the justice system”.
A2J
further noted that while Judges proceed on vacation, corruption cases among
others were suspended with many awaiting-trial inmates languishing in the
prisons.
According
to the group “in most western countries, Superior Court Judges go on leave for
between 4 to 12 weeks a year (1-3 months). During these vacation periods
however, the criminal justice system is not put in abeyance as a result. Many
countries ensure that Judges’ holidays are staggered and not cumulative to make
sure that the justice system remains in service all through the year and some
countries have even abolished general Court recess altogether to ensure the efficacy
of their criminal justice system and guarantee the protection of fair trial
rights for their citizens”.
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