The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has criticized judges who failed to deliver a single judgment in one quarter (three months), describing this development as unacceptable.
The CJN disclosed this on Tuesday during her opening statement at the third Annual National Conference on Judges’ Performance Evaluation in Abuja, seen by Nairametrics.
She reminded judges that the National Judicial Council Performance Evaluation Committee is responsible for evaluating their performance by assessing the quarterly returns of cases from judges in Nigeria.
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Kekere-Ekun acknowledged that while there have been some improvements in judges’ performance, the NJC cannot ignore the fact that there is still work to be done.
She warned judges against giving the impression that justice delivery is slow.
“At the last meeting of the Committee, there was a reduction in case disposal, as some judicial officers failed to deliver a single judgment in one quarter. This is simply unacceptable.
“We cannot wish away the growing backlog of cases or expect a different result when we continue to do things the same way.
“Unless we can justly, speedily, and effectively execute our roles as judicial officers, the populace will lose their confidence in the judiciary, as it is often believed—rightly or wrongly—that the judicial process is painstakingly slow. Delayed justice is denied justice,” she said.