A Professor of Law and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Charles Adekoya, has advocated establishment of branches of the Supreme Court in the six geopolitical zones of the country to ease the workload of the apex court and bring it closer to the people. 

Adekoya, who bemoaned the challenges in accessing justice in the country, also advocated the scrapping of the Court of Appeal to reduce the traverse in search for justice.

He made the call, yesterday, while delivering the 103rd OOU inaugural lecture, titled, “Betrayal of the Poor in Accessing Justice in Nigeria: The Judas in our Midst,” at the Otunba Gbenga Daniel Lecture Theatre, Main Campus of the university.

The don, who canvassed reforming of the justice system to make judicial proceedings simple, speedy and inexpensive as well as increase in funding for legal aid for the sake of the poor, bemoaned the incidence of corruption and sharp practices in the administration of justice system in Nigeria. He said the Bar and the Bench, as critical stakeholders, must confront frontally the negative practices that had corroded the justice system. 

According to him, corruption is real and takes many forms in the administration of the justice system in the country. The inaugural lecturer alleged that the police and judicial officers, who were expected to be protectors of justice, had been found in many jurisdictions to be most corrupt, thus hampering justice delivery and subverting the entire formal legal system. 

He said that the poor and the vast majority of the disadvantaged members of the society had been betrayed in the quest for justice, stressing that government and others concerned should collectively take urgent steps to help the less fortunate in accessing justice. 

Adekoya, while recommending the scrapping of the Court of Appeal, said cases from high courts and courts of coordinate jurisdiction would have to go straight to the Supreme Court. 

He, therefore, stressed the need for government at all levels and stakeholders in the justice sector to prioritise access to justice by closing the justice gap through the removal of all obstructions to access it.