House Okays Bill to Increase Appeal Court Justices By 60

By Udora Orizu

The House of Representatives has approved a bill seeking to increase the number of justices of the Court of Appeal by 60 and also make each division of the court have a minimum of six justices per time, for effective justice delivery.

The lawmakers yesterday passed for second reading a bill seeking an amendment to Section 1 of the Principal Act to increase the number of the Judges at the Court of Appeals from 90 to 150 to expedite justice dispensation and decrease the workload on the shoulders of the judges.

Presently, the extant law provides for 90 justices nationwide.

The bill is also seeking an amendment to Section 1 of the principal act by inserting a new subsection 2 to give the power to the President of the Court to create a new division of the court as the situation dictates.

The bill further calls for a new Subsection 3 to insert into Section 1 of the Principal Act to provide for a minimum of six justices in judicial divisions of the court in order to accelerate hearing and determination of cases.

The proposed legislation, titled: “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Court of Appeal Act, Cap. C36, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to Increase the Number of Justices of the Court and Provide for Appointment of a Minimum of Six Justices in every Judicial Division of the Court for Speedy and Efficient Justice Delivery and to Improve Citizens’ Access to Justice; and for Related Matters,” was sponsored by Hon. Onofiok Luke.

Leading the debate on its general principles, Luke lamented that the current number has become grossly inadequate, resulting in the slow dispensation of justice by the court.
He said: “The Court of Appeal is the intermediate court between the High Court, including other subordinate courts and tribunals and the Supreme Court. Established in 1976, the court had only 3 judicial divisions. The divisions of the court have now grown to 20. Some of the new divisions were commissioned in 2020. The law perches the maximum number of justices of the court at 90. This number has become inadequate given the recent creation of the new divisions of the court – Kano, Gombe, Awka, Asaba, etc. There is a high increase in the volumes of cases attended to by the court, which of course has necessitated the creation of the new divisions.

“As a matter of fact, judicial divisions of the court with the huge volume of cases like Abuja and Lagos ought to have a minimum of nine justices so that the divisions can have 3 panels sitting simultaneously. It is necessary to note that it is this same inadequate pool of justices of the Court of Appeal that is drawn to sit in Election Appeal Tribunals, thereby compounding delay in justice delivery. Owing to the inadequate number of justices in the court, cases stay in the docket for an undesirable long period of time.”

The bill was unanimously supported by the lawmakers when put to a voice vote by Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.