JUDICIARY : CJN ARIWOOLA SET TO UNVEIL SWEEPING REFORM
CHIEF Justice of Nigeria and chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Justice Oluwakayode Ariwoola, is launching a major judicial reform soon, Sunday Tribune has exclusively learnt.
The unveiling of the sweeping reform, expected to reposition the Judiciary, is reportedly billed for the resumption of the new legal year in September. It is not known if the top jurist would be announcing the reform package during the traditional ceremony that heralds every new legal year.
A top system source told Sunday Tribune that the Oyo-born judicial officer is currently putting the reform package together, taking into consideration, inputs from his brother justices, the Bar, prominent senior lawyers, top system operators and other critical stakeholders.
Justices of the Supreme Court have also been broken into committees to superintend an ongoing internal reform in the apex court.
The committees are headed by the senior justices of the court, Sunday Tribune has learnt. Each committee has four members, making a total of three committees for the 12 Justices of the court, it was learnt.
The CJN was said to have recused himself from direct participation in the internal cleansing exercise to give his colleagues unfettered access to all the activities of the court.
Senior administrative officers of the court have also been reportedly directed by the CJN to open all financial books of the court to the Justices.
This move has been applauded by insiders and major stakeholders as the right step at re-injecting accountability and probity into the system after the financial controversies that trailed the exit of his predecessor-in-office, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad.
While Sunday Tribune is yet to obtain the details, it was learnt that the focus of the reform package is mainly to make courts in the country more effective and functional, as a way of inspiring a revival of populace confidence in the Judiciary.
The Bench currently scores low with the citizenry, but the system source assured that the coming reform would take care of most of the issues leading to the poor rating of the Judiciary.
