The Chief Justice on Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, on Wednesday lamented that the Supreme Court was overburdened with high volume of appeals.
He said the apex court was still busy with appeals filed in 2005, while there were over 5,000 cases still pending in the court’s registry.
Justice Mohammed, who spoke in Abuja during a public dialogue organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, on ‘The future of the administration of justice in Nigeria’, said over 800 appeals were filed at the Supreme Court in 2014 alone with 10 already filed in 2015.
He said, “The current reality paints a sobering picture. The number of cases pending before the courts has reached critical proportions and we must use all appropriate means to stop it from spiraling out of control.
“At the Supreme Court, there were over 800 appeals filed in 2014 alone with another 10 appeals filed already in 2015 alone. The court registry is currently burdened with over 5000 appeals, and the panel of Justices are still hearing appeals filed in 2005.
“As of the third quarter of 2014, there were 38,307 cases pending in the Federal Courts alone. If one considers the number of cases pending in the State High Courts and other courts of record, you will all agree with me that the situation is indeed disturbing and sobering.”
He said he had upon assumption of office, constituted a second panel in the Supreme Court to sit on Wednesday in addition to the normal panel sitting on Wednesday “in order to dispose of pending pre-election appeals.”
“This additional panel sitting of the court commences sitting at 9am and terminates at 6pm in order to clear the pending pre-election appeals and it’s a first in the history of our judiciary,” he added. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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