The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, has taken members of the judiciary and legal profession to the cleaners, saying they are the most corrupt Nigerians.
Osigwe said many judgments in the country now depend more on the “fatness of envelopes” than on evidence.
He made these declarations on Friday at the Ralph Opara Memorial Lecture organized by the National Association of Seadogs in Enugu, themed “Judicial Corruption in Nigeria: A Menace to Democracy and Social Justice.”
Osigwe said the situation was as a “moral crisis and a democratic emergency” that threatens the foundation of Nigeria.
He said “the judiciary, once revered as the last hope of the common man, is increasingly perceived as a marketplace where justice is auctioned to the highest bidder.”
He said there was widespread disillusionment as Nigerians now view courtrooms as arenas where rulings are influenced by bribes rather than evidence.
According to Osigwe, UNODC and the National Bureau of Statistics 2024 survey revealed that public officials received approximately N721 billion in cash bribes in 2023, with judges among the top recipients.
He said An ICPC survey also indicated that N9.4 billion in bribes flowed through the justice sector between 2018 and 2020, with lawyers and litigants identified as primary bribe-givers.
“The rot in our judiciary has decimated public trust,” Osigwe said, adding that Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Nigeria 140th out of 180 countries.
He warned that a compromised justice system allows the wealthy and powerful to escape accountability while the poor bear the brunt.
Osigwe said all these led to international repercussions, citing cases like Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell, where Niger Delta communities sued in UK courts due to lack of effective justice at home, and the P&ID arbitration saga, where a multi-billion-dollar award against Nigeria was only overturned in London after fraud was proven.
He said “these cases represent a global vote of no confidence in Nigeria’s legal system.”
Osigwe called for radical reforms, including merit-based judicial appointments, the creation of state-level judicial academies, and removing the Chief Justice of Nigeria from chairing the National Judicial Council to prevent power concentration.
The NBA president said to there should be automated case assignments, mandatory suspension of judges under investigation, and full implementation of judicial financial autonomy.
