As part of reforms in the judiciary system of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered state governors and state chief judges to release prisoners who are detained unnecessarily.
Buhari gave this order at the opening of the 2017 All Nigerian Judges’ Conference of Superior Courts, in Abuja with the theme “Strengthening Judicial Integrity and the Rule of Law”,
President Buhari during the conference at the federal capital territory in Abuja on Monday said over-crowding prisons and some other noticeable problems in the judiciary have caused loss of confidence in the system.
According to the president, the conference came up at the time of consolidating and sustaining democracy as the public expects fairness, impartiality and speed in the administration of justice.
Buhari in his words said “my lords, Distinguished delegates, the prime purpose of any government is to regulate social relations within its territorial jurisdiction. Without the rule of law the government will degenerate into dictatorship or anarchy. Let me again assure the judicial community, this action taken by the Executive was in no way a prelude to usurping the powers of the National Judicial Council or aimed at intimidating the Judiciary as wrongly portrayed in some sections of the media. I am aware that the majority of judicial officers are learned and incorruptible and day in day out acting in the best spirit of their oath of office”.
Speaking further president Buhari said “At the same time, I am quiet aware of the problems besetting the Judiciary including under-funding, inadequate personnel and absence of modern technological aids.
“Bearing these in mind, this Administration increased allocation to the Judiciary from N70 billion to N100 billion in the 2017 budget and a similar figure has been proposed for 2018”.
The president in his speech also commend the decision that all judges at lower courts to provide a comprehensive list of all corruption and financial crimes in order to designate special courts to handle them.
