Renowned writer, Chimamanda Adichie, has said that the major way justice could be served as quick as possible in Nigeria is to simplify legal procedure.
She said: “One way is to simplify legal procedure. We deny justice when we delay justice. It is time for the full use of technology in the administration of justice.”
Adiche made this statement during her keynote address at the ongoing Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association at the Eko Hotel on Monday.
The Conference, themed “BOLD Transitions” is scheduled to hold between August 19 to 26, 2022.
Adiche also noted that the country is starved of heroes.
In her words, “We are starved of heroes. Our young people do not find people to look up to anymore”.
The speaker said that it was important for everyone to speak out against injustice and tyranny even if they were called troublemakers.
She noted that tyranny should be eradicated at all levels in Nigeria.
“Federal and state security dragging journalists to prison is tyranny. A journalist ill-treating his domestic staff is tyranny. The rape of young boys and girls is also tyranny. It is tyranny when state governments do not pay pensioners until they slump and die as broken people. The physical harassment of lawyers and some judges is tyranny. The use of the law by some big people to oppress the poor people is tyranny”, she said.
In her words: As long as we refuse to untangle the knot of injustice, peace cannot thrive. If we don’t talk about it, we fail to hold leaders accountable and we turn what should be transparent systems into ugly opaque cults.
“My experience made me think there’s something dead in us, in our society; a death of self-awareness and ability for self-criticism.
“There’s need for resurrection. We cannot accept criticism but criticise the government. We cannot hide our own institutional failure while demanding transparency from the government”, she said.
In her closing remarks, she called for an unbiased judicial system and called on the NBA to leverage technology in judicial process and also urged the NBA to tackle the issue of abuse of power.
“Nigerians are disillusioned because they know of the decline of professionalism in some sections of the legal profession. As the NBA continues to fight the abuse of power, it must also look inward not to be corrupted”, she said.