Retired Supreme Court Justice Amina Adamu Augie has warned lawyers and justices to shun corruption, claiming that senior jurists have made a mockery of the bench by turning courtrooms into market stalls for selling judgements.
Speaking at a public lecture in Abuja on Saturday during the fortieth anniversary of the Nigerian Law School Class of 1986, known as the Centennial Class of 1986, Justice Augie delivered a lecture titled “The Rule of Law and Justice Delivery: The Last 40 Years, Today and Tomorrow. Whither Nigeria?” The event brought together senior lawyers and judges, many of them her former students from her days as a lecturer at the Nigerian Law School before she joined the bench.
Justice Augie identified corruption, political interference, inadequate funding and delay as the major obstacles facing the judiciary. She was particularly direct on corruption, stating: “The third, which I will not dress up, is corruption. Where it exists on the Bench, at the Bar, or in the Registry, it poisons everything by turning the one place that a citizen should find impartiality into one more market stall.”
She cautioned against painting the entire judiciary with the same brush, noting that most judges and lawyers remain honest, hardworking and underpaid. However, she stressed that the system must protect the integrity of its officers rather than expose them to temptation. She added that the unethical conduct of some senior members of the profession had seriously damaged public trust.
“When a few senior members of the profession have been found to traffic in the corruption of justice, the damage is not to them alone; it stains the gown we all wear,” she said. “Restoring that trust is not a matter of better public relations. It is a matter of conduct and a profession willing to discipline its own, without fear or favour, no matter how senior the offender may be in the legal profession.”
Justice Augie reminded lawyers that their primary duty is to the court and the administration of justice rather than solely to their clients. She called on them to uphold honesty, candour and respect for the rule of law, and to resist any temptation to manipulate judicial processes, fabricate evidence or procure favourable judgements by improper means.
On funding, she warned that inadequate resources undermine judicial independence. “A Judiciary that must beg the executive for a Courtroom roof, vehicles, or even the Judges’ entitlements is not fully free; financial autonomy for the Courts is not a perk for Justices and Judges, but a guarantee for litigants,” she said.
She described delay as a chronic disease of Nigeria’s justice system and criticised the high cost of litigation, which she said often determines who can pursue justice. Drawing on her years at the Supreme Court, she noted that the apex court is overwhelmed by appeals, including matters that should have been resolved at lower courts. She recalled cases being assigned hearing dates as far ahead as 2031 and cited an appeal involving the burning of twelve goats as an example of matters that reach the highest court. She called for constitutional amendments to restrict the categories of appeal that can reach the Supreme Court so that justices can focus on matters of greater legal and national importance.
Justice Augie also condemned the persistent disobedience of court orders by public authorities. She cited the prolonged detentions of former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki and Islamic Movement leader Ibrahim El Zakzaky despite judicial orders for their release. “A nation cannot ask its people to obey the law while its government refuses to be bound by it,” she said. Such conduct, she added, weakens the authority of the courts and teaches citizens to regard the law as optional.
Reflecting on four decades, she acknowledged progress since the return to democratic rule in 1999 but expressed disappointment that justice remains slow, expensive and out of reach for many citizens. She noted that Nigeria ranked 120th out of 143 countries in the 2025 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, describing it as an uncomfortable reflection of institutional weaknesses.
Justice Augie also spoke about the role of the rule of law in economic development, stating that for a developing country like Nigeria, the rule of law is not the reward of prosperity but its precondition. Investors, she said, are reluctant to commit capital where contracts cannot be enforced, property rights are uncertain and disputes take years to resolve.
She urged the legal profession to embrace artificial intelligence as a tool for research and summarising judgements, while insisting that it must never replace professional judgement, moral responsibility, compassion or courage. “A machine can summarise a thousand judgements, but it cannot feel the weight of sending a person to prison or taking a child from a parent,” she said. “Let the machine carry the load. Never, never, ever let it carry the conscience of justice.”
Justice Augie called on her former students and the wider profession to defend the rule of law, strengthen judicial independence, expand access to justice, improve case management and restore ethical standards. She concluded that if governments obey the courts, judgements are enforced, justice is delivered within a reasonable time and within the reach of the poor, and the profession upholds its integrity and disciplines its own, Nigeria will be better positioned to secure its future.
By A.Ikechukwu
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