CJN cautions judges against using technicalities to hinder justice delivery

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, has cautioned judges of superior courts in Nigeria to desist from using technicalities to hinder justice delivery.

Muhammad gave the advice on Monday in Abuja in an address at the opening of the 2019 All Nigeria Judges’ Conference of Superior Courts holding at the National Judicial Institute.

The theme of the conference is “Sustaining Democracy through Effective and Efficient Administration of Justice’’.

He said that there was a need for judges to redouble their standards in the process of discharging adjudicatory functions in order to sustain public confidence.

“In order to sustain public confidence in the judiciary, judges must continue to be proactive by not allowing technicalities to stand in the way of substantive justice.’’

He noted that relying on technicalities in justice dispensation contributed in the delay of justice delivery.

“Technicalities in itself sometimes constitute unreasonable delay in dispensing with cases.

“Timely disposition of cases in our courts will in no small measure shore up public confidence in the judiciary,’’ Muhammad said.

He added that delay in justice delivery and the volume of cases on the dockets of courts still left much to be desired.

He, however, said that urgent reforms were being put in place to take care of the challenges.

“In our desire to curb the delay in justice delivery, we have automated the Nigerian judiciary and developed and deployed the Nigerian Case Management System (N CMS) software,’’ Muhammad said.

He solicited the support and cooperation of judges for the reform aimed at impacting positively on the country’s justice delivery system.

Retired Justice Rosaline Bozimo, the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute, said the theme of the conference was timely and apt, considering the role of the judiciary in the ‘s legal system.

“The theme of this year’s conference is apt and topical as judicial integrity and rule of law are the underlying principles of justice and the bedrock of democracy,’’ Bozimo said.