CJN says Nigerians most litigious, 4,741 cases pending

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, on Monday, decried that Nigerians are the most litigious people on earth, mounting enormous challenge on the country’s judiciary.

This is coming as the CJN swore-in 63 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN.

Justice Ariwoola called on the Nigerian public to drastically reduce litigation and embrace other dispute resolution routes without necessarily overstretching the Judiciary.

He added that not every disagreement should end in the court.

“In every little disagreement, we rush to court; and in every lost case, we rush to appeal, even up to the Supreme Court, no matter how little the issue might be. That has obviously accounted for the several appeals pending in the Supreme Court,’ he said.

He explained that currently the judiciary has over 4,741 backlog of cases, out of which 1,392 are criminal cases.

On the 62 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), Ariwoola said, “After conducting the specified screening and filtration exercises, the LPPC came up with 62 successful candidates who, by all standards, can be regarded as eminently deserving of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.”