Justice, fairness necessary for nat’l devt – Justice Onnoghen

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has advocated justice, equity, and fair play in national affairs to ensure peace and development. Justice Onnoghen, who was speaking at the Gala Night for 2017 Fellows of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) in Abuja on Wednesday, advised the country to think outside […]

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has advocated justice, equity, and fair play in national affairs to ensure peace and development.

Justice Onnoghen, who was speaking at the Gala Night for 2017 Fellows of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) in Abuja on Wednesday, advised the country to think outside the box to solve its myriad of challenges. 

Speaking on the topic: ‘Restructuring the Nigerian Federation: Issues and Challenges’, Justice Onnoghen said the country learnt from the past mistake of embarking on states and local government creation believing that would solve the problems of the minority, without consideration for the economic viability of the units.

“The aim and purpose of our striving should be to attain equity, fairness, justice and fair play in our relationship with one another,” he said.

Earlier, the Director General of NIALS, Professor Adedeji Adekunle (SAN), said the calibre of research fellows at its disposal has made the institute a destination of choice in the justice sector.

Adekunle, who disclosed that the fellows have been constituted into a foundation, said the faculty boasts of at least four senior advocates of Nigeria, while of the four SANs recently conferred from the academia, the institute picked two of the positions.

In his remark, the Head of Counter Terrorism British High Commission, James McCormick, who also bagged an award, said his country has special relationship with Nigeria and will continue to partner with NIALS to build the capacity of Nigerians to fight terrorism.

NIALS also honoured other partners such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) among others.