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Tobi Soniyi in Abuja
The Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has inaugurated a ten-man Judicial Ethics Committee with a mandate to review the Code of Conduct for judicial officers in the country.
A former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, is the head of the committee while another retired justice of the Supreme Court and erstwhile Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, (rtd) is also a member.
Other members of the committee include former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, President of the National Industrial Court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo, Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Bello, President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, two retired Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as a former President of the NBA, Chief Okey Wali, SAN.
While inaugurating the committee, Justice Mohammed urged the members “to do all such things necessary to ensure a continuous high standard of judicial accountability and probity.”
The CJN said that corruption was a major problem in the nation’s justice sector.
He said measures were being intensified to curb the menace, which informed the unveiling of a National Judicial Policy (NJP) in Abuja yesterday by the NJC.
He said: “It would be stating the obvious to opine that the greatest single menace that challenges the justice system in Nigeria today is corruption.
“This endemic vice is not peculiar to any region and ethnic group, cutting across faiths, religious denominations, levels of education and economic status.
“Corruption has serious implications for both the rule of law and access to justice, and must be fought both institutionally and individually.
