Subsidy removal provided more fund for FG, states to squander — Akpomudje, SAN

In this interview, he addressed some national issues, including the impact of federal government policies on the economy, corruption in the judiciary, appointment of Supreme Court justices, proposal for state police and the implementation of Orosanya report.

Recently, a Federal High Court in Abuja gave the nod that a new association for lawyers can indeed be registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.  In your view, do you think a rival association would weaken or strengthen the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA?

Well, I have not read that judgment, but I cannot pretend that they did not know that certain members of the association are in the process of registering  what they called Nigerian Bar Society. Certainly you know, the saying that the more we are together, the stronger we shall be. It is not something one will encourage at this time of our political life, that our profession should now have two bodies.

That is my view, but if you observe closely those who are craving to have a second association, you will see that most of them are either because they didn’t win elections or are not happy with the current leadership of the Bar. If we consider ourselves as a united Bar, there is no reason why we should split ourselves. The truth of the matter at the end of the day, is that we should be able to separate the chaffs from the grains, because those of them who are itching to have a separate association. Unless something magical happen, there is no way they will be able to weaken the kind of support lawyers have for the present NBA at all levels.

There is a general perception that corruption is pervasive in the judiciary. How true is this perception and what can be done to root out corruption in the judiciary?

If I say that there is no corruption in the judiciary, certainly I will be lying. The Nigerian setting is full of corrupt people, and the judiciary is made up of Nigerians, so you do not really expect that there won’t be element of corruption in the judiciary.

The judiciary is a product of Nigeria, so we cannot say there is no corruption in the judiciary.   Certainly, there are corrupt judicial  officers in the judiciary, to say otherwise we will be deceiving ourselves.

As per the solution to the problem,  I have always said that the method of appointment of judicial officers is to a very large extent faulty. It is faulty in the sense that members of the  Bar who know themselves very well are not given prominent role in  the selection of judicial officers. Within the Judicial  Service Commission, JSC, you have two lawyers there, two laymen, the President of the Customary Court of Appeal, as well as the Chief Judge and the Attorney General. So the Bar is in the minority.  I think we should give a more prominent role to members of  the Bar to play in the selection of judicial officers. We will come out with our best and the reason I say so is that for us that are in the profession, no matter what you are, you must be a lawyer first before becoming a judicial officer.

We know ourselves because of our interaction with each other in court, in social gatherings, in Bar meetings and conferences.  Members of the Bar have fore knowledge of those to be appointed. So if they are given the opportunity they will select their best. For the two members who are not members of the JSC, their appointment is based on whoever the Chief Judge wants, not even a selection by members of the Bar that go and represent us in the JSC.

The method of appointment is a big challenge in appointing credible judicial officers,  so we can vouch that they are not corrupt people. Competence is also very important. Some of our judicial staff, with the greatest respect,  do not meet the expectation of members of the Bar.

The federal and state government recently proposed to establish state police as a major way to tackle insecurity in the country. What would you recommend as the structural and  operational guidelines for State Police in the country?

Well with the way the security system is in the country where we have the central police force, and the high increase of insecurity all over the country, one would have said, it is a very welcome development to have  a change in terms of having state police or community policing. Let me put it that way, but having said that, why do you think that people have been opposed to state police? It is because when you have state police, politicians will use them against their opponents. Take for example in this country which everybody is aware of, once the governor wins in a particular state where he has control to conduct local government elections, for every state and for all the parties, the Governor who is there, either he is PDP or APC, will make sure all the local government positions down to councillors are won by his own political party.

That is the fear of people that by the time you place police under the control of the governor as the chief security officers, just the way they are abusing the electoral system, they will use them to oppress and intimidate their political opponents. In order for us to go ahead and have state police, we should take cognizance of  that fact and put measures in place in the law establishing state police to checkmate the excesses of governors using state police to achieve their political aims.

But like I said, the mere fact that that possibility is there, does not mean it should not be established.  heir political ambitions.

How would you assess some of President Bola Tinubu administration policies in tackling the economic and insecurity challenges in the country?

Assessment of security or other  challenges  can only be based on results. If there are no results and you have good policies and it is not giving us the result, it means one cannot give you a clean slate on that.  No matter how good the policies you put in place, if it is not solving the problem, one cannot give the government a pass mark. Take a look at electricity.  You may put up a good plan in place, but until Nigerians start to get constant supply of electricity, youn have done nothing. I must say with all due respect that we are not seeing any result, rather things are going worse.

Take for example the issue of fuel subsidy, the money from subsidy was distributed between the federal, states, and local governments. What significant development can the tiers of government show to Nigerians that they have made with the surplus money that they have gotten by the removal of fuel subsidy?  It is like they got more money to squander. That is the way I looked at it. Removal of fuel subsidy is good, but at the end of the day has it made our position better or worse? So, the results will determine whether the policies of the current  federal government are good or not. But my opinion is that we have not seen any result of which we can give commendation to the federal Government and all the state governments.

What changes should Nigerians expect from the Supreme Court since it now has the full complement of 21 Justices as stipulated by law?

This is one area, members of the Bar who are in active practice have been suffering from, because the Supreme Court does not have its full capacity.  You find out that those who are there are overwhelmed with work. We are all happy to know that we now have the full complement of the Supreme Court which is 21 Justices. As it is before now, if you file a motion in the Supreme Court, in the next 2, 3, 4, or 5 years, nobody will call you to  come and argue your motion not to talk of substantive appeals. For substantive appeals, some of them take over 10 years.

It shows that those who were there before were being overworked, particularly during the time of politics.  You know that political cases are time bound, so they give more attention to that. You can’t blame them because they have specific time within which they must deliver judgment.

But my joy is that with the full complement of the Supreme Court, you can now have about three panels sitting at the same time and to that extent, the workload of the Supreme Court will now be well distributed and cases will move faster.

President Tinubu last week approved steps for the implementation of the Oronsaye Report. What is your position on the implementation of the report?

 

From what I have read from the print media, that report was prepared over 10 years ago. To be implemented a decade thereafter, it means as at today, that report may not be so adequate to cure some of the ills that which the federal government money is spent on the Oronsaye Report. So if indeed, the federal government is serious about implementing it, there is need to be some areas that the federal  needs to touch going by the present reality of what is on ground. To that extent, it is a welcome development.