DESPAIR IN NIGERIAN JUDICIARY DUE TO ABSENCE OF JUSTICE, SAYS BANIRE AT NBA, ETI-OSA LAW WEEK

Former Lagos State Commissioner under various administrations, Dr Muiz Banire, has called on the Nigerian Bar Association to continue to push for the right things to be done to restore confidence in the judiciary. Muiz Banire said there is despair among legal practitioners in Nigeria due to growing loss of confidence in the judicial system to deliver justice, thereby creating room for the resort to self-help and the use of law enforcement agencies to settle cases that should have best been handled by the courts. Banire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, shared his observation in a presentation in a keynote speech during the opening ceremony of the maiden Law Week celebration of the Nigerian Bar Association, Eti-Osa Branch, titled: Bridging Tradition and Innovation in Law – Advancing Rights, Ethics and Technology. “Justice as reputed seems to have vanished in our judicial system. In the dispensation of justice, perception matters, though not a conclusive factor. It is against this background that I believe that what should basically confront us now, as discussed elsewhere, is how we RESURRECT JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA. It is when we are able to accomplish this that we can start conversation on the envisaged improvements to rule of law practice in Nigeria through innovations” he opined.  Muiz Banire said part of the problems with the Nigerians judiciary is the flawed recruitment process that allows room for political considerations, just as he called for the strengthening of the disciplinary process in the judiciary. “Beyond the quota and federal character system debasing the process, the process has become so political. In fact, politicians do no more pretend about their interests in the elevation of judges they believed have assisted them at one point or the other. In fact, each politician now wants his judge at the appropriate, if not all levels, of the court. As notoriously put, ‘he has worked for us and therefore deserves elevation’. Some judgments do indeed reflect such biases except we are pretending. God save Nigeria” he noted.  The Keynote Speaker agreed that the discussion around blending traditional legal practices with technological innovations was timely, but he asserted that there had to be the right framework on ground to support the process. “The truth, therefore as opined by Lord Denning, is that you cannot build something on nothing. Once the foundation is weak, nothing useful can be reaped. This is a fundamental affliction of the present justice system and must be urgently addressed.” However, Muiz Benire said that some innovations in Information and Communication Technology have been found to be useful in law practice, but cautioned against the over reliance on some of the latest features, such as Artificial Intelligence. “Life itself is a mixture of sweet and sorrow. Whatever has advantages must have its disadvantages or limitations. The most important is to be able to adopt the advantages and minimize the disadvantages.” He said some of the challenges that legal practitioners should be mindful of in the use of AI include incorrect or fictitious case citations and legal reasoning, lack of transparency, as many AI systems operate as black boxes, thereby making it difficult to challenge their decision-making processes; as well as data privacy risks as sensitive clients’ information may be unduly exposed.  In his intervention on the topic of the lecture, Abiodun Jelili Owonikoko, SAN, agreed with the submissions of the Keynote Speaker, saying that there was need to embrace ICT innovations for legal practice with caution, side by side addressing ethical concerns. “If this lecture did not rankle us, did not touch us where we are not comfortable, it wouldn’t have been an honest presentation. The idea from the point of view of an academician ...like Dr Banire was to let us see where we are falling short and what we need to do, and that means we have to be ready for change,” Owonikoko submitted. Also speaking, Justice Oluwatoyin Atinuke Ipaye who represented the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Olanrewaju Alogba, commended Dr Muiz Banire, SAN, for his well-researched presentation on the topic of bridging the gap between the old and new innovations in legal practice. “The administration of justice needs all hands-on deck so that we can have a just system that we are all proud of, that is responsive to the needs of the people, so that truly that mantle, that gab that we are the last resort for the common, uncommon, and uneducated man would be a true reality.”