What I’ll do as CJN if confirmed – Kekere-Ekun

The acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has said she will not tolerate any form of corruption from politicians, judicial officers and other Nigerians in the dispensation of justice.

Mrs Kekere-Ekun stated this on Wednesday when she appeared before senators for screening at the National Assembly.

While responding to questions from the lawmakers during the screening, she pledged to maintain the integrity of the judiciary by not condoning any form of corruption, if confirmed.

“In order to ensure that the integrity of the judiciary is maintained, I will ensure that the code of conduct is fully complied with. I will ensure that there is zero tolerance for corruption,” she said.

The acting CJN said she will also ensure that the National Judicial Council (NJC) conduct evaluation performance for judgements delivered by respective courts.

“We have a committee of the NJC that deals with performance evaluation. And what that does is they assess judgements delivered, they assess how judges are performing their functions, and they have regular conferences.

“And what I know is that we are even making moves now to tighten that performance evaluation process so that we can, when judges submit returns, for instance, it is not about quality but quantity. It’s also about how they carry out their responsibilities. Are they punctual? Are they upright, and things like that?” she added.

Mrs Kekere-Ekun also assured that petitions will be quickly attended to and judgements will be delivered without delay.

“Now in the NJC also, we are going to ensure that petitions are dealt with speedily. This is another way to let the public know that the integrity of the judiciary will be upheld in all circumstances,” she said.

Judicial officers pay

Mrs Kekere-Ekun assured that the integrity of the judiciary officers would be upheld when the judiciary is free from external influence.

She commended President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly for increasing the salary and allowances for judicial officials but requested more infrastructure and a conducive environment.

“Another area for upholding the integrity of the judiciary is that there is a need also to insulate the judiciary from external influence.

“We are very grateful to His Excellency, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, and the National Assembly for passing the bill that increased the salaries of judicial officers. We are very grateful. But there is still a way to go. Because when we are talking about the integrity of the judiciary, it involves not only the take-home pay, it also involves infrastructure that we are working with. What is available? Is it conducive?

“These are all things that have an effect on how the judiciary performs. In that regard, I will be pushing for better welfare for judicial officers so that they too can perform at their optimum best.”

Appointment of judicial officers

Mrs Kekere-Ekun also said she will ensure that the process of appointing judicial officers is fair and transparent.

“I know that there are a lot of complaints at the moment about the process of appointment of judicial officers. This is an area that I am also going to take very, very seriously. The NJC also has a committee working on this to ensure that we make the screening process rigorous, transparent, and something that the citizenry will be satisfied with when judges are appointed.

“So I’m going to make sure that this is done and with dispatch. We are looking at other jurisdictions to see how they carry out this process and how we can improve our own process in that regard. I know that once the citizens are comfortable with the manner in which judicial officers are appointed, it makes them have more confidence in the entire system.

“I will also be encouraging or supporting improvement in our laws. So again, when it comes to the independence of the judiciary, all hands have to be on deck. And I look forward to working with not only the National Assembly but also the executive to ensure that we have laws in place that enhance our independence.”

Stagnation of cases at Supreme Court

On the issue of stagnation of cases at the Supreme Court, Mrs Kekere-Ekun said she believed that there should be a limit to cases transmitted to the Supreme Court.

“Stagnation of cases in the Supreme Court, whether the number of cases that go to the Supreme Court should be restricted, I am very firmly of the view that there needs to be a limit to the cases that get to the Supreme Court.

“One of the reasons for this is that the Supreme Court is a policy court. It’s supposed to determine matters that have public policy significance, matters relating to the position of the Constitution, or matters where very rare legal issues have come up which require a pronouncement from the Supreme Court.

“As you know, the constitutional provision gives us 90 days to deliver a judgment from the date of final address. Those 90 days are spent dealing with matters of national significance as well as matters that have no significance on the national stage. I am of the view that many matters should terminate at the Court of Appeal, especially interlocutory appeals.”

Pre-election matters

The acting CJN also said pre-election matters concerning national and state houses of assembly should stop at the Court of Appeal.

“There is also a situation where pre-election matters come all the way to the Supreme Court, whereas, in National and State Assembly elections, the substantive elections terminate at the Court of Appeal. I think all pre-election matters should terminate at the Court of Appeal. So many matters need to terminate at the Court of Appeal so that the Supreme Court can really live up to its designation as a policy court.”

Mrs Kekere-Ekun was later confirmed by the Senate.