DELAY in the dispensation of justice has been a nagging menace bedeviling the judicial system in Nigeria. It is perceived as inimical to the attainment of substantial justice. The nation’s judiciary has witnessed the ugly trend  of delayed justice with its attendant effects on common men whose hopes and faith  in the revered temple of justice have been shattered.

A popular legal maxim  by William E. Gladsome says, ”Justice delayed is Justice denied,” and it implies, ”that if legal redress or equitable relief to an injured party is available, but not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no remedy at all.”

COURTS, believed  to be the  last hope of the common man, in recent years, have become their lost hope as a result of the harrowing experiences  many go through in either civil or  criminal litigation, most especially suspects who stay behind bars and inmates who languish in prisons awaiting trials  that are not forthcoming for some inexplicable reasons.

FRIVOLOUS adjournments by some lawyers, either deliberately or otherwise have been identified as one of the factors contributing to delayed justice. It is disheartening that some so-called  counsels act as clogs in the wheel of quick dispensation of justice when they cajole judges to grant such adjournments.Retirement and transfers of judges are other serious impediments to the quick dispensation of justice.

TRANSFERS of judges handling cases which had reached advanced stages have stalled justice as the new judges taking over will have to  start the case Abinitio, though the intermittent transfers could be as a result of promotion or transfer from one judicial division to the other.

A  recent report by The Hope revealed that most civil and criminal cases have suffered setbacks sequel to judges’ transfers and retirement, thereby delaying justice. Further investigation revealed that so many of the  cases are awaiting judgments, only for the trial judges to either retire, be upgraded to a higher court or transferred to another judicial division.

NIGERIAN prisons, particularly in Ondo State, are overcrowded and congested due to delayed justice. The  Comptroller of Correctional Services, Ondo State Command, Mr. Opeyemi Fatinikun, in 2021 disclosed that out of the 950 inmates in Correctional Centres in the state, 755 are Awaiting Trial Persons (ATP).

TO address this menace, the constitution should be amended to allow promoted or retired judges to  complete  cases they started. Apart from this, we call on the judiciary in Nigeria to embrace the Jurist System as being the practice in other climes like the United States. But so far, only one trial is known to have used the system before 2013 till date, and it seems to have been discontinued with. We equally call for the creation of special courts to handle special cases.

ALSO, it is high time the judges who are ministers in the temple of justice stood their grounds and stopped capitulating   some dubious lawyers who request for frivolous adjournments for whatever reasons in order to delay trial. We enjoin judges to be firm so as to accelerate hearing and determine cases quickly. It is pertinent to note that most judges are being overworked due to the backlog of cases before them. And unfortunately, most of them are yet to be equipped with facilities to ease the burden of writing too long judgments in long  hands to fast track the determination of cases.

THE  Federal House of Representatives under the leadership of the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, in 2021, made the moves to swell the number of judges at the Court of Appeal from 90 to 150 . The Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Mr Onofiok Luke , had sponsored  a bill entitled, ‘A Bill to Amend the Court of Appeal Act, Cap. C36, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004”, seeking to increase the number of Justices of the Court and also provide for Appointment of a minimum of six Justices in every Judicial Division of the Court for speedy and efficient justice delivery so as to improve citizens’ access to justice.

THIS is commendable and we enjoin the National Judicial Council (NJC), to also take a cue and as a matter of urgency, look into the appointment of more judges for the lower courts vis-a-vis the Federal and States High Courts, so as to unclutter the nation’s judicial system.