How to make justice accessible and affordable through making institutions more responsive to the people remains a major concern and inquiry in Nigeria’s judicial system.
Several non-governmental organisations such as Access to Justice (A2J), World Justice Project (WJP) and the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HIIL) have weighed in on this with projects that seek to correct the gap in justice delivery to the citizens.
In its June 2020, the WJP Rule of Law Index ranked low in some of the key indices to ascertain the level of compliance with constraints on government power, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, criminal justice and informal justice.
Nigeria fell below 100 out of the 128 countries surveyed, particularly in the areas of absence of corruption and order and security.
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But the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) replied then that a different survey by SERAP shows that 56 per cent of Nigerians were confident in the country’s anti-corruption fight out of all the rule of law indices, although the office acknowledged the need for more policies to enhance rule of law and justice administration in Nigeria.
In the latest survey by HIIL, it found that justice delivery is still a scarce commodity for many Nigerians, especially in rural communities as victims of most forms of social ills and harm do not seek formal justice or get justice done to them, instead they prefer non-formal help.
In a public presentation of its Justice Needs and Satisfaction in Nigeria 2023 report on April 16, HIIL listed the areas where citizens experienced legal problems and had difficulties finding a resolution to include disputes with neighbours, domestic violence, land disputes, crime and housing, employment, money, family, consumer, social welfare/public benefits, safety and security, accidents, corruption and documentation problems.
Opening the event, the Executive Director of HIIL, Dr Sam Mauler, said justice systems need to build continuous innovations that put the people at the centre.
The Country Director of HIIL, Ijeoma Nwafor, said the research, which was in line with the organisation’s focus on people-centred justice, revealed that citizens don’t turn to the legal system to resolve their justice needs, which is both a problem and an opportunity.
She therefore noted that the focus should be a justice system that is designed with the people’s justice needs in mind, rather than the institution-based approach that is practised in Nigeria and other countries.
“Here is now asking the question of how we can best deliver justice in a way that the people have their justice needs met, so this data is about asking everyday people what their justice challenges are,” she said.
Allocating more resources, educational campaigns and government role in ensuring the regulatory environment is conducive were some of the recommendations in closing the justice gap.
According to Femi Daramola of the Communication and Marketing Research Group (CMRG), who worked together with HIIL for the research, 6,573 adult Nigerian were selected as the population across the six geopolitical zone thus: South West: 1,618; North West: 1,509; South South: 946; South East: 896; North East: 875; and North Central: 729.
He said they deployed 159 enumerators, 36 supervisors/quality control officers and six situation room personnel for back checks and callbacks.
The research found that there was 20 per cent prevalence of legal problems in the rural areas compared to 18 per cent in the urban areas, while it found that more of such legal problems have not been resolved with 12 per cent abandoned, 33 per cent ongoing, 20 per cent partially resolved while only 35 per cent have been resolved.
The study examined the negative consequences of legal problems and found that 83 per cent of persons with legal problems experienced that. This is further broken down to loss of money 44 per cent; loss of time 42, stress related illness 17, violence 15, restricted working ability 9, harm to family 9, loss of job 6, harm to relationship 6, injury to self or family member 6, other 6, and death of a family member 4.
To resolve the disputes, the researchers found demographic and gender disparities in help sought by respondents to resolve their disputes, although informal modes were overwhelmingly found to be preferred. Thus, majority, 43 per cent resorted to family members, friends, 24 negotiated directly with the other party 18, neighbour 17, police 11, community/traditional leader 8, religious authority/leader 6, landlord 6, local public authority 5, colleague 5, lawyer 5, employer 2, formal court 1, and other 7.
Indeed, the role of obas, ezes, emirs, mai ungwa, baale, onyi isi obodo, town union president, pastors, imams, local government chairmen, vigilantes, etc came to the fore as the sources of dispute resolution.
“Demographic factors such as gender, age, educational level, financial situation and rural or urban residence play an important role in determining the likelihood of experiencing certain legal problems and achieving fair resolutions,” the study found.
Reacting to the findings, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) called on lawyers to look beyond fees to providing justice in the rural areas, especially through the legal aids of the 128 branches of the association.
“Usman Dan Fodio said that a people can exist without religion but they cannot exist without justice,” he said.
“We need to evolve the type of justice that our people need.”
A professor of the Faculty of Law of the Imo State University, Owerri, Nnamdi Obiareri said it is important that citizens have access to justice and a legal system that provides substantial and equal justice to the people.
“I am suggesting some low-hanging fruits; one, there are already some small claims courts in some jurisdictions in Nigeria, I think we can make that work; two, public awareness and enlightenment on ADR measures, which already exists and which some persons have failed to take advantage of; and the role of the local chiefs, the traditional leaders and churches are paramount and we should look at the legal framework to institutionalise what they do,” he said.
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