Osinbajo Advocates 12 To 15-Month Time Limit For Court Cases

0
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has challenged the Nigeria Bar Association to work towards reforming the country’s judicial processes to ensure the speedy dispensation of justice in the country.

Professor Osinbajo posed the challenge on Wednesday when he virtually declared open the Annual National Conference of the NBA in Lagos, where he represented President Muhammadu Buhari.

The vice president is advocating that judicial reforms will help fast track all court cases so that the longest will be a maximum of 15 months, Channels TV reports.

Besides speedy dispensation of court cases, Osinbajo noted that multiple and conflicting court orders are making a mockery of the judicial process while highlighting the need for reforms in that area.

He said;

Reform is urgent because the fabric of our society is stitched together by our system of justice and law enforcement. We cannot afford to have the stitches come undone. The first issue I would like to commend to your consideration is the terribly slow pace of trials in our courts.

Osinbajo stated that fixing a time limit as it has been done with cases in the Supreme Court might lead to speedy trials.

He expressed;

My question then is that why can’t we have timeliness on all cases? Why can’t we put in place the rules that will state that a criminal trial all the way to the Supreme Court must not exceed 12 months in duration?

Why can’t we do the same for civil cases even if we say it that civil cases must not go beyond 15 months – between 12 and 15 months? I think that for me will be stepping forward.

Osinbajo added;

The question of speed raises a related concern in the context of a competitive global economy, a speed of our legal institutions and processes must match up with the global pace of transactions.

Read Also: NBA Conference: Lawyers Oppose El-Rufai’s Invitation, Threaten To Boycott Event

It would be recalled that controversy was surrounding the NBA conference after some lawyers protested against the invitation of Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai to the event.

El-Rufai was listed among speakers to take part in a panel discussion during the conference which holds August 26-29.

Read Also: NBA Withdraws El-Rufai’s Invitation To Speak At Conference

However, NBA withdrew the invitation after lawyers criticised El-Rufai over the killings in Southern Kaduna, alleged disdain for court orders and other things happenings in the state.

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.