Judge calls for tribunal for cases involving judicial officers

She disclosed this in a paper presentation at the just concluded All Nigeria Judges Conference which took place at the National Judicial Institute Abuja.Justice Kanyip said this would insulate serving judges and safeguard their integrity, especially in the eyes of discerning public.“I am here mindful that as judges, as an institution, we also have private […]

She disclosed this in a paper presentation at the just concluded All Nigeria Judges Conference which took place at the National Judicial Institute Abuja.
Justice Kanyip said this would insulate serving judges and safeguard their integrity, especially in the eyes of discerning public.
“I am here mindful that as judges, as an institution, we also have private rights and should enjoy same. Yet by our training, we are expected to be circumspect and exercise restraint. And lest it be forgotten, most if not all of our retired judges are already on full salary for life, so it may not be costly to engage their services,” she said.
 According to her, Nigeria has 1,025 justices and judges in the superior courts, out of which 271 are females and 754 males. She said until recently, the female judges never made it to the Supreme Court. Now the Supreme Court boasts of five justices, one of whom, the very first to actually go to that bench is the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the second to go to that Bench has retired from the judicial service.
“Despite what the study described as a gradual ’feminization of the  judiciary resulting in a near gender equality’ across the continent and its eastern borders, only 23% of judges in England and Wales and 21% of judges in  Scotland are women,” she added.
Justice Kanyip who said that women should not be discriminated against in work places as frowned at by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), complained about the statistics of appointments in the judicial circle in Nigeria.
“Female judges and Khadis in state courts are 213 while male judges are 592. It should be noted that only Yobe State does not have any female judge and only in Edo and Lagos States do we have more female judges than male judges. Bauchi State has one (1) female judge and 17 male judges and Khadis. The number of female justices, judges and Khadis in Federal Courts are 59 while their male counterparts are 163. Court of Appeal has 18 female judges and 51 male judges,” she noted.
 She pointed out that with this percentage Nigeria has not met the 30 percent enjoined by the Beijing Declaration.
“The point then is that with the 917  trial judges of Superior Courts of record that we have in the country to serve a population of over 160  million, do we think they can cope with the volume of caseloads that confront them?” she said.
She, however, warned that any person considering a judicial appointment should consider certain factors such as moving from one city to another, career disruption of a spouse and children change of schools.
She also stressed the need for men and women to balance their work and family lives in order to challenge gender inequality in work places.
On international labour standards, the jurist said: “It must be noted that the level of labour standards chosen by a particular country is ultimately a function of that country’s level of economic development and is, therefore a domestic policy choice which means that one should expect diversity in labour standards to be the norm.”
According to her, a very good attempt at gender re-positioning of a judiciary can be found in Uganda where the policy ensure that female judicial officers were given the opportunities to be equally represented at all levels, not just on the lower bench.
She recommended the involvement of retired Judges in handling of election cases to reduce the caseloads in the courts. This,  she said, became imperative since election matters distract regular courts for at least a year after general elections.