Editorial
Review Long Court Vacation
Worried by the slow pace of justice occasioned by the frequent closure of courts, a non-governmental organisation, Access to Justice (AJ) recently called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the National Judicial Council (NJC) to review the vacation periods of courts in the country, and make new policies regulating the time annual vacations should last to get the courts back to business.
In a statement by its Convener, Joseph Otteh, and Project Director, Deji Ajare, AJ recommended measures that could be adopted to ensure that cases do not suffer undue delay during intermissions. The body submitted that judges handling criminal cases should not partake in the general furlough but establish their holidays so that criminal trials could proceed uninterrupted across Nigeria.
AJ similarly urged the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to ensure that there were enough vacation courts opened in all of its judicial divisions during the period, and not just in Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Port Harcourt, given that urgent matters could arise anywhere in the country. A statement from the AJ states:
“It is customary for courts to mainly shut down in the months of August and September each year to allow judges to rest. During this period, only a few designated courts sit to adjudicate urgent matters. Access to Justice has, in the past, called for a reform of the judicial vacation system, so that courts’ businesses do not shut down en bloc, and allowing judges take individual vacations instead, in the way it is done in many other countries.”
We agree with the concerns raised by the organisation. This is because the current legal year has been marked by extraordinary disruption: the Covid-19 pandemic, the EndSARS protests that saw many court buildings and records destroyed, and the JUSUN strike that shuttered courts for a little over two months.
In addition to the forced closures, judges also enjoy at least four extra vacations – Christmas, Easter and two Muslim festivities. When the various vacations are summed up, many courts would have been closed for business for up to three months. When disruption periods are added to this number, some courts would have been closed for more than five months in the legal year.
Lawyers and the public are equally troubled that despite the many court closures between last year and now, judges still proceeded on their annual vacation not minding that justice delivery in the country would be stymied. This break is unnecessary and would consume valuable judicial time reeling from the long strike embarked on by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
The JUSUN strike was reportedly marked by a high rate of extortion and extra-judicial executions in certain parts of the country. The Nigerian Correctional Service has at least 65,688 detainees, with the majority waiting to be tried. With the growing wave of insecurity, many law enforcement agencies have stockpiled their detention centres with suspects.
In 2020, the NJC said it had 155,757 cases, although courts throughout the federation are reported to have thousands of cases before it. Despite this, restorative criminal justice and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practices are not yet mainstreamed in Nigeria as in other countries. Given the scenarios, it was shocking when the federal and state courts announced the start of the 2021 annual holidays.
Though annual vacation of courts is statutory, we recommend that henceforth only 50 per cent of the courts should proceed on the annual holiday while the remaining 50 per cent should continue at work and only proceed on vacation when the first 50 per cent would have returned to work. The nation cannot afford to keep the justice system in limbo as we did for two months during the JUSUN strike so that people do not take the laws into their hands.
Hopefully, most judges on holiday would find a way to compensate for lost time. We applaud the states that have agreed to shorten the vacation and ask others to do the same. The bottom line is that every state should have a sufficient number of courts to allow litigants to address time-sensitive and urgent issues.
We are convinced that the judiciary should improve its image and offer a higher level of accountability to the public it serves. Where the institution ignores the broader needs and stakes of litigants, and takes any length of vacation periods it chooses, only just because it can, it gives the impression that it is more interested in preserving the vocational privileges of its members than it is committed to the cause of justice and realising the constitutional rights of citizens to a fair and reasonably speedy trial.
Where court users feel this way, they further lose faith in the court system as vehicles of justice and see the judicial branch as just another impassive, spiritless player in the business of governance. For a judiciary that has been heavily burdened by negative public perception, this can be even more alienating.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria and the NJC must declare a state of emergency in the Judiciary, following from many months of court closure, and convoke a high-level justice delivery stakeholder meeting immediately to explore the most effective ways to drive an expeditious programme to decongest court dockets and develop a programme of action for doing so.
When Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, received the Board and Management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), led by its Chairman, Senator Adeyeye Adedayo Clement, his message was unmistakable: Rivers’ seaports remain underutilised, and Nigeria is poorer for it. The governor’s lament was a sad reminder of how neglect and centralisation continue to choke the nation’s economic arteries.
The governor, in his remarks at Government House, Port Harcourt, expressed concern that the twin seaports — the NPA in Port Harcourt and the Onne Seaport — have not been operating at their full potential. He underscored that seaports are vital engines of national development, pointing out that no prosperous nation thrives without efficient ports and airports. His position aligns with global realities that maritime trade remains the backbone of industrial expansion and international commerce.
Indeed, the case of Rivers State is peculiar. It hosts two major ports strategically located along the Bonny River axis, yet cargo throughput has remained dismally low compared to Lagos. According to NPA’s 2023 statistics, Lagos ports (Apapa and Tin Can Island) handled over 75 per cent of Nigeria’s container traffic, while Onne managed less than 10 per cent. Such a lopsided distribution is neither efficient nor sustainable.
Governor Fubara rightly observed that the full capacity operation of Onne Port would be transformative. The area’s vast land mass and industrial potential make it ideal for ancillary businesses — warehousing, logistics, ship repair, and manufacturing. A revitalised Onne would attract investors, create jobs, and stimulate economic growth, not only in Rivers State but across the Niger Delta.
The multiplier effect cannot be overstated. The port’s expansion would boost clearing and forwarding services, strengthen local transport networks, and revitalise the moribund manufacturing sector. It would also expand opportunities for youth employment — a pressing concern in a state where unemployment reportedly hovers around 32 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Yet, the challenge lies not in capacity but in policy. For years, Nigeria’s maritime economy has been suffocated by excessive centralisation. Successive governments have prioritised Lagos at the expense of other viable ports, creating a traffic nightmare and logistical bottlenecks that cost importers and exporters billions annually. The governor’s call, therefore, is a plea for fairness and pragmatism.
Making Lagos the exclusive maritime gateway is counter productive. Congestion at Tin Can Island and Apapa has become legendary — ships often wait weeks to berth, while truck queues stretch for kilometres. The result is avoidable demurrage, product delays, and business frustration. A more decentralised port system would spread economic opportunities and reduce the burden on Lagos’ overstretched infrastructure.
Importers continue to face severe difficulties clearing goods in Lagos, with bureaucratic delays and poor road networks compounding their woes. The World Bank’s Doing Business Report estimates that Nigerian ports experience average clearance times of 20 days — compared to just 5 days in neighbouring Ghana. Such inefficiency undermines competitiveness and discourages foreign investment.
Worse still, goods transported from Lagos to other regions are often lost to accidents or criminal attacks along the nation’s perilous highways. Reports from the Federal Road Safety Corps indicate that over 5,000 road crashes involving heavy-duty trucks occurred in 2023, many en route from Lagos. By contrast, activating seaports in Rivers, Warri, and Calabar would shorten cargo routes and save lives.
The economic rationale is clear: making all seaports operational will create jobs, enhance trade efficiency, and boost national revenue. It will also help diversify economic activity away from the overburdened South West, spreading prosperity more evenly across the federation.
Decentralisation is both an economic strategy and an act of national renewal. When Onne, Warri, and Calabar ports operate optimally, hinterland states benefit through increased trade and infrastructure development. The federal purse, too, gains through taxes, duties, and improved productivity.
Tin Can Island, already bursting at the seams, exemplifies the perils of over-centralisation. Ships face berthing delays, containers stack up, and port users lose valuable hours navigating chaos. The result is higher operational costs and lower competitiveness. Allowing states like Rivers to fully harness their maritime assets would reverse this trend.
Compelling all importers to use Lagos ports is an anachronistic policy that stifles innovation and local enterprise. Nigeria cannot achieve its industrial ambitions by chaining its logistics system to one congested city. The path to prosperity lies in empowering every state to develop and utilise its natural advantages — and for Rivers, that means functional seaports.
Fubara’s call should not go unheeded. The Federal Government must embrace decentralisation as a strategic necessity for national growth. Making Rivers’ seaports work is not just about reviving dormant infrastructure; it is about unlocking the full maritime potential of a nation yearning for balance, productivity, and shared prosperity.
