he Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called for an overhaul of the National Judicial Council (NJC).
The body of lawyers also decried the low quality of judgments delivered by judges of the appellate courts and said the reform will pave the way for a more vibrant judicial system.

While making a case for the appointment of more lawyers into the Bench, the association called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu to overhaul the NJC to enable it get more vibrant guidelines on the appointment of judges to each and every superior and appellate court.

The NBA president, Joseph Daudu (SAN) made the call at the valedictory court session held in honour of a late member of the Bench, Justice Phillip Nnaemeka-Agu, retired justice of the Supreme Court held in Abuja.
According to him “His Lordship, Justice Agu came to the Bench from the bar and acquitted himself with distinction in every court he worked up to the Supreme Court.

This shows that there is merit in the case being made for a return to the practice where the Supreme Court and other appellate courts were populated by legal practitioners appointed from the bar. Appointment to the superior appellate courts ought not to be seen as promotion for judges or justices in the subordinate court. Indeed those courts ought to comprise of the best materials from the Bar, Bench and academia.”

Daudu noted that: “Justice Agu distinguished himself as a man of research and great learning. This brings us to the quality of judgment today. Apart from the few good writers left in the system, many judgments today are hardly readable. That tells a lot about the quality of hands brought to the Bench today. It is also a reflection on the need to fine-tune the appointment procedure.”

He called on the CJN to revamp the workings of the NJC and come up with new and vibrant guidelines on the appointment of judges to every superior court of record in Nigeria adding that the output of judges where low, ought to be a matter for prompt disciplinary action by the NJC.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Bello Adoke (SAN) assured that the present administration is committed to electoral reforms that would usher in a free and fair election that has been the bane of political development of Nigeria.