Editorial
Beyond The Need For More Judges
Hardly any day passes without the news media being awash with comments on the state of the judicial sector in Nigeria. Albeit, the comments, most of which range from the sublime to the ridiculous, usually harp, even if adumbratively, on the imperative of reform in that all-important sector. If the moral conduct of judicial officers is not the issue, it is executive interference on judicial matters or the unconducive environment in which our judicial officers operate.
Added to these is the rather embarrassing insecurity in court premises across the country. Or how else can we explain a situation where a kidnap kingpin on trial in an Owerri High Court, a few months ago, could be taken away by his gun-wielding cohorts before the very eyes of security agents without much resistance? Doesn’t that say something about Nigeria’s judiciary in danger?
Only recently, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, alerted that Nigerian courts are overwhelmed by litigations facing judges in various judicial divisions in the country.
Speaking in a live programme on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Justice Auta hinted that Nigeria, with over 180 million people, currently has just 1,200 judges battling with innumerable cases in state and Federal High Courts, Appeal Courts and the Supreme Court. Each judge, says the eminent jurist, handles between 500 and 700 cases in a month.
Drawing analogy with less populated countries, Justice Auta revealed that even nations in Africa and beyond with just 10 million people have over 2,000 judges in their judicial system as against Nigeria’s.
This revelation by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court is a clear indication that Nigeria is grossly under-staffed in manpower, at all levels of the nation’s judiciary.
Central to Auta’s position is the over congestion of the nation’s dilapidated prisons which he suggests, can be settled by the appointment of more judges.
Though Auta’s stance is not new. It has become something of a jaded homily by many concerned Nigerians in the nation’s media and other fora.
Nevertheless, The Tide shares in Auta’s concern, especially against the backdrop of the fact that the judiciary, as a critical arm of government and the last hope of all in the society, deserves a pride of place in the provision of badly needed infrastructure and qualified personnel.
It needs not be over-stressed here that lack of enough judges has negatively contributed to the delay in dispensing justice so much so that even suspects involved in minor crimes languish in custody for many years for offences which, in most cases, attract only few months imprisonment or option of fine if convicted. It is probably on that note that the commonly used legal parlance that justice delayed is justice denied, sadly enough, applies more to the Nigerian situation.
In this regard, we enjoin our judges to endear themselves to quick dispensation of cases that are not properly investigated by the Police and or other law enforcement agencies, rather than keeping suspects in prison custody, perpetually awaiting trial that may not hold.
Meanwhile, the Bar, especially lawyers handling cases, directors of litigations and public prosecution and other security apparatus have a lot to do to assist judges to speedily dispense cases before them.
Even more worrisome is the situation where only conventional courts handle virtually all civil and criminal cases, many of which linger on for long, owing more often to deliberate technical hiccups caused by the prosecution or defence team in the course of hearing such cases.
We believe that political corruption, illicit drugs, arms running, robbery, oil theft, traffic-related matters, among other cases, could be better handled by special courts.
The fact that many judges who have passed on or retired on account of age, service or ill-health have not been replaced by the relevant authorities, has put much pressure on serving judges and ipso facto, affects the nation’s judicial system negatively.
However, beyond the need for the services of more judges in the country, the Bar, the Bench and the government must work assiduously to ensure that Nigeria’s judicial system conforms with global best practices. It is only by doing this that Nigeria can earn the respect of the international community.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
