Former NBA President seeks judicial rebirth

Augustine Alegeh (SAN), former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, has called for an overhauling of the country judicial process with a view to strengthening justice delivery.
Alegeh made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos.
He called on government to put in place both facilities in the courts and legislations to enhance the legal system.
According to him, the Nigerian Criminal Justice System requires adequate redress to foster efficient mechanism for a smooth administration of the law.
He said: “The Nigeria legal industry and space is totally vulcanised and nobody looks at us as an industry anymore.
“For instance, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act provides for a limited number of adjournments in criminal trial but the reverse is still the case.
“Our criminal jurisprudence needs to be seriously redressed, to keep it in tune with acceptable legal practices.
“We still find criminal cases where the prosecution fails to produce the accused person in court for more than five adjournments.
“The situation is worse where the prosecution asks for these adjournments and where the judge refuses to grant same, then it will be said that such judge has been compromised.”
According to Alegeh, there ought to be some sort of synergy between law enforcement agencies, the Prisons as well as the judiciary to create a conducive atmosphere for justice delivery.
He said: “If you look at the prisons, you find that we have about 80 per cent of awaiting trial inmates in custody, so, how do we remedy such a situation.
“For me, it is important we continually look at these grey areas and address them, because if we have an efficient justice delivery system, it will move the nation forward.”
Alegeh noted that while the law provides 90 days for conclusion of an Election Petition Tribunal, some criminal cases in the courts persisted for up to 10 years.
He said that it was the duty of the media to stimulate discuss and draw attention of government, on the need to have a holistic approach to justice delivery system in the country.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria bemoaned the taking down of proceedings in long hand by judges, adding that the development signaled a major draw-back to an efficient justice administration.
Alegeh said: “We still have judges taking down proceedings in long hand and these judges are also expected to deliver their judgment within the time frame allowed by law.
“In other climes, the focus has even been shifted from audio electronic recording to video recording of proceedings.
“At the end of proceedings in these climes, parties are given video clips and transcripts of the entire proceedings.
“Meanwhile, here in Nigeria, we are yet to be conversant with electronic recording; why can’t Nigerian courts take advantage of this available technology.”
Alegeh who noted that no country could be great if its justice delivery sector was not efficient called for an enhanced criminal and civil litigation process.