The woes of the slow justice delivery system in Nigeria have continued to take toll on Nigeria’s socio-economic existence with over 198,432 cases pending at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Magistracy, Federal and Appeal Courts.

As of the 2022/2023 legal year, the total number of pending cases in the Court of Appeal is 39,526.

The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensen, disclosed this during the 2023/2024 legal year ceremony.

Also, the chief judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho at a similar ceremony to mark the 2022/2023 legal year and 50th anniversary of the court stated that there were 144,910 pending cases at the end of the last legal year.

A similar number exists at the Magistracy of the FCT, which according to the Chief Judge (CJ) Husseini Baba-Yusuf stands at 13,996 covering both civil and criminal matters.

The situation is not different at other courts such as the National Industrial Court, and the High Court of States, the Customary Court of Appeal of States and the Sharia Court of Appeal of States.

The direct consequences of these high dockets are seen in congestion of Correctional Centres as a result of pre-trial inmates, dearth of artisans with technical skills that can drive innovations and the economic blight that comes with slow dispensation of justice.

According to the Nigeria Correctional Centre (NCS), as of February 6, a total of 54,124 inmates are awaiting trial across Nigeria.

In addition, the Nigerian government spends N5, 412,400 daily “on paper” to feed those awaiting trial inmates.

This happened because the Senate Committee on Interior in 2021 increased the daily feeding allowance for the inmates from N450 per person to a minimum of N1, 000 per day.

According to the convener, Vanguard for the Independence of the Judiciary, Douglas Ogbankwa, a lawyer, slow justice dispensation results in business stagnation, discourages foreign direct investments, and erodes confidence in investors who fear conflict resolution when they occur in businesses, especially small claims would be denied.

Also, he noted that victims of crimes lack confidence in the ability of the system to deliver justice, encouraging self-help and a largely dysfunctional judicial system.

He stressed that several innocent persons are languishing in prison and by law, they are presumed innocent until found guilty by the courts.

Ogbankwa, however, said that the main crux of the matter is lack of independence of the judiciary, poor funding, neglect of judges and judicial officers in terms of embracing technology.

“To solve the problem, Nigerians must insist on substantial compliance to the provision of Section 121 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that every money standing to the credit of the Judiciary must be paid to the heads of court, and also, the courts must embrace technology to ease off judicial process,” he said.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Douglas Terkura Pepe, attributes the malady to colonial heritage, which embedded the mentality of holding on to traditional ways of conducting proceedings to Nigerian judiciary.

This, he said, has contributed to clog court dockets, adding that manual filing, manual recording of proceedings and delivery of judgments/rulings must be jettisoned and digitalised.

He suggested that timelines need to be apportioned for conduct of cases, stressing that the wellbeing of judges must be enhanced.

The Executive Director of People’s Orientation Initiative for Community Engagement (POICE), Fanen Elaija said heavy dockets result in unresolved business transactions.

Suggesting ways to decongest the heavy dockets, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, said there was a need for a constitution amendment to end certain cases at the appeal court.

But a retired justice of the Court of Appeal, Peter Ige, said the Supreme Court should be decentralised for effective administration of justice.

According to him, there is nothing wrong if the apex court creates divisions in the six geopolitical zones of the country like the appeal court.

Justice Ige expressed the view that decentralising the Supreme Court would help to bring justice to the grassroots.

Executive Director of Sterling Law Centre, Deji Ajare said one of the most significant implications of a huge backlog of cases is the delay in justice delivery.

“Simple cases such as those bothering on recovery of premises could sometimes take years before they are concluded.

“This has made the court system becoming overwhelmed and unable to handle all the cases in a timely manner. It results in prolonged legal processes, resulting in individuals and businesses waiting for justice to be served for an extended period. Delayed justice can lead to frustration, loss of faith in the legal system, and social unrest,” Ajare stated.

He explained that the longer cases remain pending, the higher the financial burden on all the parties involved, including the court system.

This, he said, can exacerbate existing inequalities within the justice system.

“Those with financial resources may be able to prolong legal proceedings or manipulate the system, leading to unfair advantages over those who cannot afford lengthy legal battles. In such cases, the danger lies in the erosion of justice and the potential for impunity, where people escape legal consequences due to the inefficiencies caused by the backlog,” he pointed out, adding that lack of faith in the system promotes jungle justice.

He suggested that to overcome the challenges, the judiciary must digitalise, implement a comprehensive digital case management system that would birth efficiency, reduced paperwork, easier access to case files, and improved transparency.

His words: “This would significantly hasten the pace of adjudication, reduce delays and amplify accountability. There is also a need to hand over administrative responsibilities to specialised administrators. This will enable judges to dedicate their expertise and time to hearing cases promptly, leading to accelerated justice delivery.”

He also called for the creation of more courts, and or special courts that would focus on specific areas like financial crimes, terrorism, human rights, commercial disputes, constitutional matters and family cases, stressing that overburdened courts contribute to the pendency of cases and delay the administration of justice.

Ajare added that there should be improved funding for the judiciary because poor welfare conditions severely affect the morale and productivity of judicial staff.

The CJ of the FCT High Court, Justice Baba-Yusuf said for the FCT judiciary to reduce the workload of judges and fast track justice dispensation, it launched a small claims court to provide easy access and speedy resolution of simple debt recovery disputes involving small claims.

“The small claims court would, among others, improve the speed of adjudication for commercial disputes involving financial claims not exceeding N7 million by introducing self-representation and delivery of judgments within 60 days, among other transformative procedural rules,” he said.

The initiative, he said, is an invaluable intervention with practical goal-driven solutions, which legal practitioners and court users will find very useful.

He stressed that the court is significant because it will deliver justice quickly, operate seamlessly, among others.

Justice Baba-Yusuf said: “The small claims court is traditional in nature and if it must succeed, unnecessary bottlenecks must be removed.

“This way, citizens, particularly indigent persons, who have monetary disputes not exceeding N7 million can easily access speedy, cheap, and seamless systems of adjudicating on the avalanche of small commercial disputes in the FCT without having to go through a rigorous financial draining litigation process of debt recovery.” (The Guardian)

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