Access to Justice has maintained a keen, abiding interest in reforming procedures of judicial appointment and discipline in Nigeria given the very important role these processes play in building the Judiciary’s strength and character.
In recent years, substantial reforms have been made to the systems for the appointment and discipline of judicial officers of the superior courts. However, these reforms are yet to be replicated by the judicial service commissions/committees as the inferior courts of record do not possess the structured framework and systems for accountability which exist for the appointment and discipline of the judicial officers of superior courts.
Anecdotal evidence shows that these deficits adversely affect the justice delivery capacity of the lower courts which are saddled with the greater chunk of the judicial caseload ratio.“In order to advocate for the reform of the lower courts, Access to Justice has developed model judicial Guidelines appointment and disciplinary guidelines for Nigerian Lower Courts.
The Model Guidelines and Rules have also benefitted from stakeholder consultation. On September 3rd 2018, during a workshop organised by the National Judicial Institute for Judiciary staff we presented the Model Guidelines to a wide spectrum of judiciary staff drawn from various judicial commissions across Nigeria. Subsequently, the Model Guidelines were reviewed in order to incorporate the suggestions put forward by participants at the workshop.
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