The Nigerian Judicial System: Building the Judges of the Future
The Role of the Judicial Academy in Converting Lawyers into Judges
Let us examine the role of judges as public citizens who create access to justice and, in particular, the roles that the Nigerian Law School [NLS]and the Council for Legal Education [CLE] can [and should] play in educating judges to better perform this crucial role. Let’s also take a cross-cultural look at the issue, with contributions from professors and lawyers in the United Kingdom, India, Nigeria, and the United States.
Of course, many institutional processes are different in various parts of the world, but there are certain commonalities that make for very interesting comparisons. In some places, individuals can become judges directly following the completion of law school. In other jurisdictions, the process is lengthier and may take many years and require much experience as a practicing lawyer. Other differences include the process of choosing judges by examination, by election or by appointment.
However, the commonalities between the systems allow us to use the different experiences to shed light on the problem. The common issue is that, in most places, law schools pay slight attention to what it means to be a judge and how judges work in the courtroom, even though judges are the most important functionaries in the court process, as they have the power to make the final decision.
Legal education in Nigeria has been central and noncommittal to the various areas of legal services available to a lawyer. In other words, Nigerian lawyers are trained in all areas (solicitors, advocates, judicial officers, and academics) using the same curriculum. It is obvious that such a mode of training falls short of standards for equipping a professional for specific skills. It is opined that there is a high possibility that a good prosecutor turned judge may bring his bias against defendants as a judge or magistrate.
Similarly, a public defender turned judge will be naturally biased against the state or similar plaintiffs. A judge without judicial training may not draw a line as to his role as an unbiased arbiter. He simply employs his personal and emotional idiosyncrasies in deciding public fate.
There is no formal training curriculum for Nigerian judicial officers in any university or law school in the country. This system has been grossly criticized. As a result of the criticisms, the National Judicial Institute was established to train judges and magistrates on the job. A former Magistrate found that it is evident that such an on-the-job training scheme is not good enough; hence the need for developing a formal training curriculum for judges in law schools.
In Nigeria, Judges are appointed from the bulk of generally trained lawyers. The appointment of a person to the office of a Judge of a State High Court is made by the governor of the state on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, after consultation with relevant stakeholders in the administration of justice. The person must be a lawyer licensed to practice in Nigeria, with no less than ten years post qualification. There is no specific legal education one must possess to be considered. A person is considered for appointment after ten years post-call to bar experience, with a couple of appearances in the High Court, Court of Appeal, and maybe the Supreme Court.
In the case of a magistrate, Magistrate Grade 2 could require as few as four years post-call, while Senior And Chief Magistrate ranges are between seven and ten years post-call experience. A magistrate is simply appointed with no form of judicial training! In some cases for Senior Magistrate appointment, they were simply invited for an orientation on ‘judicial ethics’ that lasted for three days. The “lecturers” were older magistrates and high court judges. After Their “training,” they were simply distributed into courts for one week to understudy older colleagues. That was it. They were then dispatched to court to determine people’s fates, most of which were criminal in nature. Before then, most of them had never had any course on ethics, judicial practice, or similar skills, apart from the general rules of professional conduct at the Nigerian Law School in Lagos. At that time, there was nothing like clinical legal education, hence the law pedagogy was inchoate. It was basically theoretical and lacked skill content.
- Self-Help and Fire Brigade Reactive Efforts
The scenario above is typical of how judges are appointed and “trained” in Nigeria and many common law countries. Against this background, many jurisdictions of the Nigerian judiciary have been grappling with the challenges of making their judges fit for their jobs in ethics, discipline, and learning.
For example, in 2008, when the Lagos State Judicial Service Commission appointed six new judges to the State’s High Court; the training session was facilitated by the “Justice Research Institute.” The first part of the training commenced on April 7, 2008, at the Elias Centre. In attendance on the first day were Mr. Supo Shasore (SAN), Hon. Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Lagos State, Hon. Justice Ade Alabi, Chief Judge of Lagos State, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), Director, Justice Research Institute, Hon. Justice Opeyemi O. Oke, and the newly appointed judges. A typical training day started with a paper presentation by an Honorable Judge on various aspects of substantive and procedural law.
The Second part of the training was at the Eko Tourist beach. It was training as usual for the newly appointed judges. This lasted from the15th to the 20th of April 2008.
These impromptu training sessions are endangered by the lack of formal training curriculum for judges in any Nigerian university. Unfortunately, most of the ad-hoc on-the-job trainings for already-appointed judges are done by judges with little experience about the fundamentals of legal education.
Similarly, the international community has been concerned by this unfortunate state of affairs,’ hence the United Nations Office of Drug Crime (“UNODC”) sponsored project on Strengthening Judicial Integrity and Capacity in Nigeria,in the context of “giving an overview of how it fits into a broader international initiative.The UNODC project on ensuring integrity in the Nigerian judiciary is part of the global clamour for disciplined, well trained, and integrity-driven reforms aimed at making the judiciary the last hope of the common man.
Consequently, this global agenda is guided by an International Judicial Group on Strengthening Judicial Integrity, formed in April 2000 by the Chief Justices of Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India,Nepal and Sri Lanka.According to reports from the group, Egypt and the Philippines joined this campaign at its third meeting in Sri Lanka in January 2003. During the Integrity Group’s first meeting in Vienna in 2000, it claimed the following achievements:
The creation of a ‘safe’ and productive learning environment for chief justices in which they can be exposed to best practices regarding judicial reform, management of change and the strengthening of the rule of law; the formulation of a concept of judicial accountability which will be of practical effect and raise the level of public confidence in the courts without jeopardizing the principle of judicial independence; the establishment of the objectives, scope and basic principles for judicial reform; the development of a Universal Declaration of Principles of Judicial Conduct; the design of a comprehensive assessment methodology.
- Need for Proactive Curriculum for Would-Be Judges.
It is conceded that these reactive or fire-brigade measures may have cushioned the effect of informal training a little, yet the lack of a well articulated curriculum in a formal law school sector has not done much in equipping judges to understand their jobs as independent and unbiased umpires.
“We are advocating for more proactive, rather than reactive, educational measures for training of judges in law faculties of universities in Nigeria.”
“We recommend the introduction of judicial training curriculum in law faculties and schools that utilizes the Council of Legal Education (“CLE”) methodology for formal training of future judges.”
“This course is intended to develop skills and ethical values that are needed in the sensitive and exalted position of a judge as a decider of public fate.”
This curriculum would largely embody Legal Education models of pedagogy and a variety of ethical problems, then discuss appropriate responses. We recommend this model of curriculum below:
Module one: will be the INTRODUCTION part of the curriculum. It will contain issues such as the distinction between disciplinary rules (e.g. Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers) and a statement of basic ethical principles (i.e. the UK Principles of Judicial Conduct). It will also discuss ethics and places of ethical issues in, (a) the courtroom, (b) outside the courtroom and (c) in judgment writing. The curriculum, under this module, should have key components in identifying ethical principles, to wit:
International standards of judicial conduct: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, The UK Principles of Judicial Conduct, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa, Commonwealth Principles on the Accountability of, and the Relationship Between, the Three Branches of Government.
The module should also have domestic standards of judicial conduct, to wit, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (or the relevant state), and the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” (or the relevant state). Part of module one should also include steps to resolve an ethical issue: “define the ethical dilemma; identify any specific codes, rules, guidelines and principles that are relevant; consult colleagues; identify permissible options, outlining the strengths and weaknesses of each,” and identify the preferred option for the purpose of justifying and adopting it.
Module two will be based entirely on INDEPENDENCE as a fundamental concern for judicial integrity and functionality. This module will highlight the content of the value and the principle derived therefrom, and the hypothetical ethical issues involved, such as “undue influence exerted by the Executive; pressure from the Legislature; previous political connections; interference by senior colleagues; influence of the corporate sector; [and] effect of family or social relationships.
Module three will center on IMPARTIALITY. The module will examine the content of the value and the principle derived from the concept of impartiality.Additionally, this module examines hypothetical ethical issues like “strong personal feelings about the subject matter or the parties; family’s financial interests; personal knowledge; ex parte orders and communications; public statements; offers of post-retirement employment; and applications for recusal.
Module four will center on INTEGRITY. The module will look into the content of the value and the principle derived therefrom, and hypothetical ethical issues including “private life; conforming to community standards; transgressing the law; and conduct in court.”
Module five will focus on PROPRIETY. “The content of the value and the principle derived therefrom,” and hypothetical ethical issues such as use of clubs and social facilities; gambling; social contact with the legal profession; ordinary social hospitality; family members in the legal profession; exercise of the freedom of expression; misuse of the prestige of judicial office; disclosure of confidential information; participation in community activities; membership of a commission of inquiry; and acceptance of gifts.
Module six will focus on EQUALITY. The content of the value and the principle derived therefrom, and hypothetical ethical issues, to wit, “applying international standards; stereotyping; responding to cultural diversity; gender discrimination; and manifestations of bias or prejudice by court staff and lawyers.
Module seven will deal with COMPETENCE AND DILIGENCE. It will discuss the content of the value and the principle derived therefrom, and hypothetical ethical issues like “maintaining professional competence; punctuality and prompt disposition of court business; delivery of reserved judgments; transparency; corruption in the court-house; and application of international standards in human rights law.
Finally, module eight will deal with MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN AND OTHER ELEMENTS. These include management of transitions (e.g. The Director of Public Prosecution, or public prosecutor to Judge; a public defender to Judge, an academician to a Judge, etc); management of biases (those that have natural hatred or liking for certain actions and tendencies: rape, murder, fraud, bigamy,homosexuality, lesbianism, Islam, Hindu, Christianity, and other religions, etc); management of internal and related pressures (e.g. from the Chief Judge, The Director of Public Prosecution, colleagues, Commissioner of Police, The government, staff etc.); management of time and schedule; management of load and case files; and management of equipment and office machines.
- Strengthening Judicial Education
Legal practitioners strongly believe that judicial education cannot be supported by government funding alone; it should be done in collaboration with development partners and specialized agencies. We highlight some thematic areas of training below, and advocate for implementation in all jurisdictions.
2. Judicial Ethics Training
Ethics training for judicial personnel and court staff is to be developed and implemented jointly by representatives of the pilot state judiciaries, the [Independent Corrupt Practices Commission] ICPC, the [National Judicial Institute of Nigeria] NJI, the [National Centre for State Courts] NCSC and the [United Nations office of Drug Crime] UNODC.
This recommendation is in line with a communiqué issued during the Strengthening Judicial Integrity Conference, the purpose of which was, among other things,
- Raising awareness of the ethical challenges for judicial and court staff.
- Training staff on how to handle these challenges.
- Strengthening internal and external integrity systems, including the complaints mechanism, court user groups and the development of a code of conduct for court staff.
- Ensuring follow-up through action planning and measurable output and impact indicators.
The inputs to this training will include:
- An assessment of the main ethical challenges faced by Nigerian judges and court staff identified during the UNODC [or any other UN] assessment of judicial integrity and capacity.
- The findings of the working group on judicial ethics organized by the NCSC with the support of the UNODC or any international body.
3. Computerization and Training.
In line with what UNODC has been doing, it is recommended that major development partners assist in computerization of law schools, and even of the courts for judicial education and service. For example, in Nigeria, The UNODC has been handy to this challenge in the courts,but not in law schools.Training should be conducted for selected staff in operating this system in relevant university faculties.
The system will be used for tracking, analysing and following up on all petitions, complaints and other misconduct related complaints, including the preparation of periodic reports. In order to develop a functional system that will work in Nigeria, an international database expert would conduct a need assessment. Based on this need assessment, the project [should] develop and install and pilot test a computerized complaint system in selected faculties.
4. Electronic Court Recording Education
Practitioners join Integrity Group in recommending electronic recording education for judges. Education for judicial and other officers to operate electronic court devices is key to making a judge functional. In Nigeria for instance, the National Centre for State Courts (NCSC) conducted two training sessions on how to operate electronic court recording systems in Kaduna and Abuja, which drew participants from UNODC pilot states like Borno, Delta, and Lagos to participate in this training.
We recommend such trainings for judicial officers and those who work with them in the law schools and faculties.
- Conclusion
There is a need for a well-structured, CLE-oriented, and university-based education for judges and judicial officers.
This will:
“(i) Improve access to justice, (ii) Increase the timeliness and quality of justice, (iii) Enhance public confidence in the courts, (iv) Establish an efficient, effective and credible complaints system, and (v) Enhance co-ordination and collaboration throughout the criminal justice system.”
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