AN OVERVIEW OF THE NIGERIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM; ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS (A CASE STUDY OF LAGOS STATE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The judiciary is an arm of government that vested with the power to interpret laws made by the Legislature. Judiciary is a system of courts that interprets and implements laws in a state. They are in charge of providing a system that settles arguments. While in some countries under separation of powers, the judiciary does not have the power to make or enforce law as it is the duty of the legislature. In some countries, the judiciary has the right to make law which is known as “Common Law”. The judiciary is frequently expected to ensure there is equal justice. In most cases, it is not everything said by a judge in the course of his judgment that is important. Only a formal declaration on law in conjunction to the material fact before the judge is important. Therefore, judicial precedent is the principle of law on which a judicial decision centers on. Once a court is called upon to apply the decision in a recent case, the court is required to follow the pattern of the previous decision.
There are numerous challenges facing the judiciary. They are challenges of advocacy. An advocate is the most misunderstood professional. In some jurisdictions uniqueness is seen between a barrister and solicitor in the sense that it is only the barrister that can physically present itself before a court to debate on a case, while the solicitor on the other hand will take the brief from the client. In Nigeria, immediately one of them escapable or seen to be competent to practice law, he is automatically a barrister and solicitor of the supreme courts of Nigeria and therefore qualifies to debate on any case in any of the courts of the country. Being that some people perceive an advocate in the positive light of assisting a client in claiming his or her rights by his powers of insistence and eloquence and thus view legal practice as a superb profession to save executive lawlessness, others perceive these qualities of an advocate to be a way to cut throats.
Another challenge facing the judiciary is the challenge of corruption. Corruption and perceptions of corruption in the judiciary underestimates the courts’ power of inspiring belief as fighters of corruption. More especially, it gradually destroys trust in the courts’ impartiality, harming all the major judicial functions, which includes as dispute resolution, law enforcement, protection of lands and property rights and contract enforcement. In addition, it harms the wider accountability duty that the judiciary is committed with in democratic systems – giving complete support to citizens’ rights, securing the integrity of the political rules of the game, and sanctioning representatives of other branches when they act in contradiction of the law
