NJC to UNODC: Your report unfounded, subjective

National Judicial Council (NJC), has described the report emanated from the United Nation’s Offi ce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) against the judiciary as untrue, baseless, subjective and a fi gment of the agencies’ imagination. In the report, the UNODC alleged that the judiciary was the second highest receiver of bribes in the country, but NJC in a statement said the subjective and speculative conclusion was drawn by the UNODC in conjunction with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) tittles: “Corruption in Nigeria; Bribery: Public Experience and Response, 2017.” Th e 2017 National Survey said 46.4 per cent Nigerian citizens have had “bribery contact” with police of

fi cers, 33 per cent with prosecutors and 31.5 per cent with judges/magistrates. In a statement signed by the Director of Information, Soji Oye, NJC questioned the yardstick with which the UNODC used in drawing their conclusion against the Judiciary. Th e statement, not denying the fact that the judiciary was not without any corrupt practices, added that it “still has many honest and hardworking judicial offi cers” as well as being proactive in checkmating corrupt practices. Reiterating its stand on the fi ght against corruption, NJC called on members of the public to forward written petitions against any judicial offi cer found soliciting or receiving bribes. “Th e judiciary fi nds the conclusion of the organisations not only subjective but speculative. Th ere is no denial of the fact that there are few bad eggs in the Judiciary, like in every other arm of Government; at the same time, there are many honest and hardworking Judicial Offi cers and Magistrates making the Judiciary and the country proud. “Th e question that should agitate the minds of the people is the criteria used by the UNODC and the NBS to measure the level of bribe taking in the Judiciary to grade it as the second largest receiver of bribe. For instance, what is the percentage of Judges caught receiving bribe out of a total number of One Th ousand and Fifty-Nine Judges in both the Federal and State Judiciaries? What is the percentage of Magistrates caught taking bribe from an estimated total number of Four Th ousand (4,000) in the country? How many Judges or Magistrates have been arrested and/or prosecuted and convicted of corruption till date to deduce such conclusions? “One then wonders the criteria used by the organisations to arrive at the conclusion. It should be noted that the Judiciary is the only arm of Government that has been investigating its Judicial Offi cers and dealt appropriately with those found guilty by dismissal or removal from offi ce, subject to approval for such recommendation from the President or the Governor of a State as the case may be, and publish such in electronic and print media for the consumption of the public.” In conclusion, “Th e National Judicial Council as usual calls on members of the public to forward written Petitions against any Judicial Offi cer found soliciting or receiving bribes or otherwise engaging in conducts unbecoming of a Judicial Offi cer to the National Judicial Council for appropriate action.”

 

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