Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has called for mandatory tests for aspiring judges to ensure competence on the bench.
He said this while speaking at a webinar with the theme, “Developing an Institutional Concept of Justice in Nigeria,” organised by the law firm of Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN).
Osinbajo said, “We must take a second look at the appointment of judges. The merit-based system is necessary. We need to have mandatory test for them. We need to look at how our judges are selected.
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“It is not enough to rise through the ranks in the judiciary with judges going to the Supreme Court from the appeal court. We must be able to bring in practicing lawyers and from the academic to become judges.
“We owe it to ourselves to change the rules. Change is necessary and reform of our judiciary process should be urgent.”
Olanipekun concurred with Osinbajo and said, “I reckon that judges can be appointed from the academia and the bar and not just based on promotion from one court to another. We have to resituate the profession. It belongs to all of us.
“The time has come whereby we have to do something about frivolous ex parte applications otherwise ex parte applications will do something about us.”
