Appointment of Federal High Court judges under way- CJN

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, says appointment of judges to fill vacant seats in the various divisions of the Federal High Courts is under way.
Onnoghen spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at the opening of the 33rd Annual Judges Conference.
He said that the enormous responsibilities bestowed on the court required that it had the full compliments of its judicial officers.
He said: “The Constitution has vested enormous responsibility in the Federal High Court. “The court is undoubtedly one of the most strategic and significant arm of the judiciary and should be empowered with the right capacity to discharge its functions.
“To this end, I assure your lordships that the process of appointing judges to this court is under way and will soon be completed.
“The appointment of new judges is with a view to ensuring that the court enjoys the full complements of its judicial officers as stipulated by the constitution.”
Onnoghen who was represented by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, further stated that the judiciary remained committed to the Federal Government’s fight against corruption.
He urged all stakeholders to perform their functions diligently as all hands needed to be on deck to win the war against corruption.
The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, commended the support and cooperation of the CJN in appointing new judges to the court.
He said he was optimistic that the new judges would help to clear outstanding cases and reduce the cases on the docket of the courts.
According to Auta, it is a practice in the court from inception for judges to meet annually to appraise the activities of the previous year with a view to finding solutions to identified problems.
He said: “In the process of finding solutions to identified problems, judges sincerely correct and apportion blames to their erring brother judges before eventually rededicating themselves to the core values of our calling and profession.”
Auta further stated that the 2017 Judges Conference was a unique one to him as it was the last one he would attend as Chief Judge since he was retiring on September 16.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Judges Conference which was declared open by the CJN would end on September 15.
NAN also reports that the Federal High Court, with 80 judges spread across its 37 judicial divisions, began activities to open its 2017/2018 legal year on September 12 with a special court session.