Judicial Integriry: Questions about judicial independence and public confidence have returned to the centre of legal debate following the publication on September 15 of a paper by Professor Abiodun Amuda-Kannike, SAN, on “Judicial Integrity: Upholding the Rule of Law in Challenging Times.”
The paper, published by TheNigeriaLawyer after an earlier presentation at a judicial conference in London, examines judicial integrity through Nigeria’s constitutional and institutional history. The author identifies appointments, disciplinary mechanisms, fiscal dependence, conflicting court orders and aspects of electoral jurisprudence among areas he believes require closer attention.
Importantly, the paper does not present the Nigerian judiciary solely through criticism. It also identifies decisions and institutional developments which the author regards as evidence of judicial courage and capacity for reform.
Professor Amuda-Kannike proposes more transparent merit-based appointments, stronger accountability mechanisms, genuine financial autonomy, wider digitisation of court processes and independent institutional oversight.
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The central issue is therefore structural: public confidence in courts ultimately depends not only on what individual judges decide, but also on whether the institutions surrounding judicial appointments, funding, discipline and administration are designed to protect independence and accountability.
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