According to a statement by the spokesperson for the National Judicial Council (NJC), Soji Oye, the statistics was contained in the report of the Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trials Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO), inaugurated in November 2017 by the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the NJC, Justice Walter Onnoghen.
The committee was to tour the six geo-political zones of the country to determine the causes of slow pace of corruption and financial crimes cases in the country’s courts.
According to him, “The committee, headed by Justice Suleiman Galadima, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, has, in the last six months, crisscrossed the country to monitor and ensure compliance with the directive of the Chief Justice to ensure speedy dispensation of the cases. “Of the total number of 324 judgements delivered, the Supreme Court, in Zone A, delivered 52 judgements and reserved seven cases for judgement from the list of 125 cases pending before it, leaving an outstanding number of 73 cases.”
It further added that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, within the period, also disposed of 74 appeals and reserved 11 for judgement from the list of 137 cases in its docket.
In addition, it was also pointed out that the Federal High Court delivered two judgements from the 91 pending cases before it, while the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) likewise delivered three judgements and reserved one case for judgement, thereby leaving an outstanding number of 178 cases pending.
“In Zone B, Northern Zone, 62 judgements were delivered by the six Court of Appeal Divisions, 19 Federal High Court Divisions and 19 High Courts of various Northern States from the total number of 425 cases pending in the Zone, while 12 cases were struck out.
“From the 12 cases struck out, five are from the Court of Appeal and seven from High Courts of three states. “The designated courts in Zone C (Southern Zone) have delivered judgements in 131 out of the 952 corruption and financial crime cases on-going at the various courts and reserved 43 cases for judgements,” Oye said.
The information, however, revealed that from the total number of judgements delivered in the zone, the Federal High Court delivered seven judgements out of a total of 304 cases pending before it, while the High Courts of 17 states delivered 124 cases from the 524 on-going in their various courts.
The Court of Appeal in the zone has reserved 31 out of 121 appeals pending in the court for judgement.
“The Federal High Court, on its part, reserved three cases for judgement while the various State High Courts in the Zone have reserved nine cases for judgement. “The committee will continue the exercise after the courts’ vacation,” he stated.
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