Buhari Administration: System Reforms
Investigating and prosecuting corruption across government and private sectors in Nigeria requires an efficient justice system.
Some recommendations to the Buhari administration on fighting corruption in the justice sector include:
• Undertake an independent inquiry on corruption in the
justice sector. Evidence of corruption, and not just suspicions or popular belief, is required in order to effectively assess corruption and develop a framework of anti-corruption policies.
• Enforce merit-based employments and appointments across the institutions in the justice sector, and create appropriate legal and institutional framework to increase job security and stability, and to enhance the personal will to avoid all forms of extraneous pressure.
• Review Salary and Enhance Working Conditions across the justice sector, to eliminate the necessity to supplement paltry income with bribes.
National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ)
The idea of a single forum in which the three arms of government, agencies with a justice sector mandate and civil society organisations meet to discuss and agree on concrete interventions for the justice sector, has long been proposed. The need to ensure the reinforcement of recent reforms in the justice sector and the prompt follow-up of outstanding reforms, requires an implementation and monitoring body.
It has been suggested that the Buhari administration liaise with the judiciary, to establish a NCAJ to provide high-level policy making, implementation and oversight of interventions in the Justice Sector. Its membership should include State and Non-State Actors from the justice sector.