Editor of CKN News, Chris Kehinde-Nwandu, has defended the performance of Nigeria’s judiciary, arguing that the country’s major challenge lies not in the absence of laws but in their implementation. Kehinde-Nwandu stated this during the June 12 Democracy Day Town Hall edition of Journalist’ Hangout on TVC News, where he……
Editor of CKN News, Chris Kehinde-Nwandu, has defended the performance of Nigeria’s judiciary, arguing that the country’s major challenge lies not in the absence of laws but in their implementation.
Kehinde-Nwandu stated this during the June 12 Democracy Day Town Hall edition of Journalist’ Hangout on TVC News, where he assessed the role of key democratic institutions in Nigeria’s democratic journey.
According to him, despite criticisms often directed at the judiciary, the institution has generally performed creditably in many areas of national life.
“We’ve not been doing badly sincerely. Yes, we’ve had our challenges in terms of the kind of judgment that turned out by certain judges and the way we practise our law,” he said.
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The media executive maintained that Nigeria possesses sufficient legal frameworks to address most of its governance and societal challenges.
“I’ve always said it time and time again that our problem in Nigeria is not lack of laws. We have enough laws to be able to effectively manage wherever we find ourselves. The problem has been those that have been implementing those laws and that is where the problem is,” Kehinde-Nwandu stated.
He noted that public criticism of judges is often most pronounced in election-related disputes, while many of the judiciary’s successes in other areas receive less attention.
“Most often than not, areas where Nigerians say judges are corrupt is when it comes to electoral matters. That is the fact — electoral matters,” he said.
Kehinde-Nwandu argued that outside election litigation, courts have delivered significant judgments in criminal, civil and other legal matters.
“Go to other issues and you see how judges turn out judgments. You’ll be shocked. There have been so many instances. You talk of capital punishment. You talk of criminal cases. You talk of civil cases and you talk of how judiciary have been perfectly well,” he added.
On governance reforms, the journalist expressed support for a shift from the current presidential system to a parliamentary model, which he believes could reduce the cost of governance.
“I personally still believe that especially our legislative arm of government, a parliamentary system of government might just be good for Nigeria for now,” he said.
Describing the position as his personal opinion, Kehinde-Nwandu also called for a review of the country’s bicameral legislature.
“We should do away with the bicameral legislature as we have presently and we save money,” he stated.
