Senior Advocate advocates regional Supreme Court for speedy justice delivery

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief James Ogwu Onoja, has advocated urgent establishment of regional Supreme Courts so as to ensure speedy delivery of justice in the country.

He said that regional Supreme Courts, when established, should be saddled with responsibilities of handling cases which ought not to come to the Central Supreme Court.

Onoja spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at the public presentation of a book on dissenting judgments of a retired Supreme Court Justice, Ejembi Eko.

The senior lawyer who spoke against the backdrop of depletion of Justices on the Supreme Court bench lamented that the apex court would continue to be over worked with unprecedented number of cases.

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Onoja, whose law firm put the book together, disclosed that not all cases should be allowed to go to the central Supreme Court.

According to him, cases such as land disputes, marriages and civil cases among others should terminate at the regional Supreme Courts while policy and constitutional matters should be handled by the central Supreme Court.

Onoja insisted that regional Supreme Courts as being operated in advanced countries of the world would definitely ensure speedy and quality justice delivery in Nigeria when adopted.

“With only 15 Justices and mountains of cases, Supreme Court will continue to be overworked. There is the need to fill the vacancies as quickly as possible.

“Cases in the Supreme Court as presently constituted last for more than 10 years. That is one of the reasons why parties are changed along the lines due to deaths and incapacitations.

“At the moment, all manners of cases such as marriages, land and employment matters are finding their ways into the only Supreme Court in the land. This trend is unnecessary because it is affecting the quality of justice delivery in the country.

“Therefore, Supreme Court should not be for all cases. There must be limitations along the lines,” he stated.

The senior lawyer said that the book written in honour of retired Justice Ejembi Eko from his dissenting judgments showed his courage as a non-conformist to do anything against free flow of justice.

He appealed to the authorities of the apex court to look into some of the dissenting judgments and make them laws where and when possible.

In his brief remarks, Justice Eko who was highly elated with the attendance of the serving and retired Supreme Court Justices and Senior Advocates of Nigeria charged Judges in the country to always express their views when having strong ones.

Among the Supreme Court Justices on the occasion were Olukayode Ariwoola, Amina Augie and Uwani Musa Abba-Aji.