• NICN delivers 939 decisions in one year
•Malami assures of NICN of support
From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja
THE Executive arm of government is under fire for its seeming frosty relationship with the Judiciary.
The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) yesterday accused it – at the federal and state levels – of undermining the Judiciary.
NBA President Olumide Akpata said the Executive engaged in selective obedience to court orders while most state governments refused to comply with the constitutional provision that allows fiscal autonomy for the Judiciary.
Also, BOSAN leadership under Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim (SAN) argued that the Executive and their political allies have continued to threaten the independence of the Judiciary by reviewing the decisions of the National Judicial Council (NJC) on judges’ appointment and elevation.
NBA and BOSAN spoke in Abuja at the 2020/2021 Legal Year opening ceremony of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN).
Represented by former Abuja NBA Chairman Affam Osigwe, the association warned that the nation’s democracy would be endangered if the Executive deliberately starves the Judiciary of funds and subjects it to ridicule by ignoring its decisions.
Akpata said: “Achieving full independence for the Judiciary in Nigeria will be difficult, if the Judiciary is not guaranteed full financial autonomy under the Constitution.
“The spectacle of heads of courts literally begging for its overheads and general welfare from the President of the Federation or the governor of a state, is an ugly one that highlights the seemingly subservience of the Judiciary to the Executive arm of government, which it ought to be independent of.
“This situation creates a somewhat master-servant relationship that upends the whole concept of independence of the Judiciary. Sadly, as the situation may look, it is nonetheless the reality of Judiciary-Executive relationship in Nigeria today.”
Ibrahim presented BOSAN’s position through Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN).
He contended that neither the President nor any governor has the power to review NJC’s recommendation for judges’ appointment.
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“…It is bizarre when the NJC recommended the appointment of 32 judges and, at the end, after an administrative review by people who are not qualified to do so, only 11 scaled through the controlling administrative process,” Ibrahim said.
NICN’s President, Justice Benedict Kanyip, who hailed the court’s judges and workers for impressive performance in the last legal year, noted that 939 decisions, comprising 724 judgments and 215 rulings, were handed out by the court’s 32 judges between October 1, 2019 and October 2, 2020.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who was represented by the Solicitor General of the Federation (SGF), Dayo Apata (SAN), urged lawyers to cooperate with the court to maintain its integrity and dignity by not engaging in unethical practices.
“I assure you once more of the commitment of my office to the growth of a healthy relationship with this court in a manner that promotes genuine cooperation without undermining the independence of this hallowed arm of government,” he said.
Source: thenationonlineng.net
