CORRUPTION IN THE NIGERIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEM: THE WAY FORWARD

Abstract

Nigeria as a country operates Federal System of government where the principle of separation of powers is hinged on a separation of the three arms of government namely, the legislature, executive and the judiciary. The essence of their separation is to avoid fusion of powers among the three arms so as to ensure checks and balances that guarantee good governance in the country. Using a qualitative study which is based on a historical analytical descriptive approach that revolves around a combination of historical literature where both secondary and primary sources of data were utilized, to arrive at logical findings, the study argued that, the Nigerian judiciary which has been described by certain scholars as the last hope of a common man and also the bastion of democracy is saddle with the responsibility of interpreting the laws as well as determining and resolving dispute between individuals on one hand, and between states and other levels of government on the other hand. But regrettably, right from the military regime up to the present-day democratic experiment in Nigeria, the judiciary has been deeply abashed or embroiled with corrupt practices of various degrees. The paper is therefore, tailored towards examining not only the causes of corruption in Nigeria’s judicial system but also the implications of corruption on our justice system. The paper finally canvases for total over hauling of the judiciary system for optimal performance of the sector in order to rekindle the lost confidence of Nigerians on the justice ministry or sector.