Sule, Ibrahim (2014) Judicial independence in Nigeria: Between global trend, domestic realities and Islamic law. In: UUM International Conference on Governance 2014 (ICG), 29th - 30th November 2014, Flamingo Hotel By The Beach, Pulau Pinang.

PDF Restricted to Registered users only Download (439kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Judicial independence has its origin in the theory of separation of powers.As for the judiciary, the theory means both the judiciary as institution and all individual judges and other personnel must be able to carry out their professional responsibilities free from any influence or interference by the Executive or Legislature or any other person or institution outside or within the judiciary. Undoubtedly, it is only an independent judiciary that can competently provide the necessary checks on the excesses of other arms of government particularly on breaches of rights and freedoms of the citizenry.This paper establishes that independence of judiciary is an indispensable ingredient of good governance. It also analyses judicial independence in Nigeria in line with some global trends and discovered ironically that even though the Nigerian Constitution guarantees one’s rights to have one’s cause heard by an independent and impartial judge, it does not guarantee institutional independence of Nigerian judiciary at all.And this could have been the reason why the fortunes of Nigerian judiciary is day by day dwindling as it is compelled by lack of constitutional guarantees to always beg either the executive or the legislature for one ‘favor’ or another.The paper also analyses some of the causes of the persistent crisis in the Nigerian judiciary and also highlights on some lessons to be learnt from judicial independence under Islamic law.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Additional Information:	ISBN NO: 978-983-2078-95-1 Organizers: Institute for Governance and Innovation Studies (IGIS), College of Law, Government and International Studies (UUM COLGIS) and University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Judiciary, judges, interference, impartiality, fairness
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General)
Divisions:	College of Law, Government and International Studies
Depositing User:	Mrs. Norazmilah Yaakub
Date Deposited:	20 Jan 2015 08:50
Last Modified:	20 Jan 2015 08:50
URI:	https://repo.uum.edu.my/id/eprint/13113

Actions (login required)

View Item