The Acting Chief Judge of Kogi, Justice Henry Olusiyi has pledged to embark on an in-house cleansing of the state Judiciary to enforce strict adherence to due process and orderliness in the system.
Olusiyi made the pledge on Friday in Lokoja when he received the report of the Special Staff Verification Committee earlier set up to ascertain the staff strength of the state High Court and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
The Chief Judge, who expressed dismay over the rot uncovered by the verification committee, said that any society or organisation that failed to enforce and ensure compliance to due process was doomed.
“There is no doubt that a lot has been exposed by this report and, as I said at the inauguration, an organisation that does not have certainty as to its workforce is an organisation that is drifting, a rudderless organisation”, he said.
Olusiyi stated that from the report, there was no doubt that a lot had gone wrong, stressing: “By God’s grace, we are going to do a thorough house cleansing. It cannot be business as usual”.
“Judiciary as the third Arm of Government should be an organisation that is known for excellence, must be a model organisation, must be an organisation that can dictate the pace and show examples.
“And how do we do it if we don’t have procedures that are compliant with due process? Any society, any organisation that has no compliance to due process is an organisation that will soon go into extinction and lose relevance,” Olusiyi added.
He said that there must be strict adherence to due process and orderliness, adding that there was no point having a workforce that the organisation could not keep track of.
“They don’t come to work yet, they receive alerts, some have retired and they’re still receiving alerts, some have died and alert is still being received somewhere for them” he added.
Olusiyi commended the committee Chairman and members, for their courage and hard work, saying that he was proud that there were still dependable officers within the system.
Earlier, the Chairman of the committee, Abdullahi Hassan, explained that the report was produced in two volumes after meticulous work.
Hassan reported that a lot of administrative lapses were discovered in the Personnel Department, including improper documentation of staff, as well as poor job description, as specified by the committee’s terms of reference.
The News Agency of Nigeria NAN reports that President Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Olowosegun; Grand Khadi of the State Sharia Court of Appeal, Justice Abdulkarim Aruwa, and the management staff of the judiciary witnessed the presentation ceremony.
(NAN)
