The Federal High Court has announced nine vacancies to be filled on its bench, although it has a shortfall of 24 judges.
The court has a full complement of 100 judges but currently has 76 across its divisions nationwide.
A statement by the Federal High Court’s Assistant Director of Information, Catherine Christopher, said on Saturday, that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, recently approved the appointment of nine judges for the court.
“The Federal High Court of Nigeria wishes to notify all stakeholders and the general public of its further appointment of Nine (9) judges,” the statement read in part.
The planned appointment of new nine judges, the statement said, is different from the pending exercise for the appointment of 15 judges earlier approved by the CJN.
The statement quoted the Chief Judge of the court, John Tsoho, as inviting judges of superior courts, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), “to kindly nominate suitably qualified persons from the aforementioned States for appointment to the Federal High Court Bench.”
It added that “all recommendations are to reach the Chambers of the Hon. Chief Judge of the Federal High Court on or before the 28 February 2023.”
Recently, the Federal High Court has been overburdened by an influx of pre-election suits occasioned by the conferment of exclusive jurisdiction on it by the new Electoral Act.
With its limited number of judges, the court struggles to clear its docket of nearly 2000 pre-election cases that are timebound.
A total of 24 judges could be added to the court to make its full complement of 100 at the end of the court’s ongoing recruitment processes.
What determines number of judges:
The Chief Judge of the court, Mr Tsoho, had said in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, tied the proposed number of judges to be appointed to the availability of funds.
In the interview in July 2021, Mr Tsoho informed this newspaper that due to paucity of funds, the court was able to plan for the recruitment of only six judges, despite that there were 28 vacancies on the court’s bench.
“The appointment of judges is a very tough process; it is so tedious because it is intricately tied to funding. If you must appoint a judge, you provide courtroom, support staff (registrars, clerks), and security personnel among others.
“You have to provide a befitting car and accommodation. But considering what the economy is now, those are not things you can easily put in place.
“Mind you, all these things have to be catered for from the court’s budget; no other authority has responsibility for it. The NJC insists that every requirement for the appointment of judges must be on ground – the facilities and everything for their inspection before you go ahead with the recruitment,” Mr Tsoho said.
