‘Credibility of Judiciary Now Under Severe Strain’, Uzoani, SAN

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Emeka Uzoani on Tuesday, mirrored the reasons why the public viewed the Judiciary in recent times as a compromised institution.

Chief Uzoani, made the assertion in a Keynote Address he delivered at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Benin Branch Law Week in Benin City, Edo State.

Speaking on the theme: “Restoring Credible Justice: Bridging the Gap Between Law and Public Trust in Nigeria’s Judiciary”, the senior Lawyer blamed the perceived corruption the public has about the Judiciary as an institution, on both the Bar and the Bench.

He said: “We gather today not merely to fulfil a calendar obligation, but to confront a crisis. What lies before us is not a theoretical issue, it is a national emergency. The Judiciary, once venerated as the last hope of the common man, now finds its credibility under severe strain. The real challenge is not just perception, it is the steady erosion of public confidence, and therefore, legitimacy”.

According to him, doubts about justice are on daily basis being voiced by litigants, Lawyers and citizens alike on conflicting court orders, delay and slow processes that have led to public disillusionment because some legal practitioners have resorted to becoming enablers of the dysfunction, compromising the profession’s integrity found in the judicial system.

“Across the country, doubts about justice are voiced, by litigants, Lawyers, and citizens alike. Conflicting court orders, delay, and slow processes have fed public disillusionment. Worse still, some legal practitioners have become enablers of the dysfunction, compromising the profession’s integrity. This is no longer a matter confined to courtrooms or legal discourse, it plays out in frustrated conversations in marketplaces, in cynical hashtags on social media, and in the growing apathy of citizens who have come to see justice as a privilege, not a right”, Uzoani declared.

He lamented that a system of justice, once regarded as a sanctuary of fairness, is perceived as a gamble, adding that the issue at hand is not an exercise to blame one party alone, but the Bar and the Bench.

His words: “This reflection is not an exercise in blame, but a collective reckoning, demanding humility and resolve from both the Bench and the Bar. It is a call to acknowledge our shared responsibility, to critically examine the systemic failures, and to embark on the deliberate, principled journey of restoring the judiciary’s integrity and public confidence.”

He listed symptoms of this credibility crisis as Accessibility: When justice becomes a privilege which he described as one of the clearest manifestations of the credibility crisis in the judiciary because of the widening gap in access to justice, a constitutional right under Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution that, for many Nigerians, remains more theoretical than real; when today, justice has become less a right and more of a privilege, expensive, distant, and often inaccessible; even filing, a modest civil claim is financially daunting; court fees, service costs, and procedural penalties quickly pile up.