Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has expressed deep concern over the inefficiency of Nigeria’s judicial system, recalling a UK court ruling that once deemed Nigerian courts unreliable.
Speaking at a book launch broadcast on Thursday, September 11, 2025, Osinbajo drew attention to systemic failures in the legal profession and offered candid personal reflections.
“I have three children. Two of them should have been lawyers. But they all chose not to go anywhere near the practice of law. I think that is because we traumatize them by too much reading, too many books. And they are not interested at all in the practice of law,” he said, highlighting waning interest in legal practice even within his own family.
Osinbajo lamented the sluggish pace of legal proceedings, particularly in civil cases, while noting that criminal cases also grapple with distinct challenges. “One of the major problems, I think, over the years has been that consistent problem with how to make sure that our cases go quickly through the courts,” he remarked.
To illustrate the gravity of the problem, Osinbajo cited a UK court case involving Ipoh and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). During the trial, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria testified that civil matters in Nigeria could drag on for 20 to 30 years. According to Osinbajo, the English Court of Appeal concluded that entrusting such a matter to Nigeria’s judiciary would be “catastrophic.”
He described the judgment as “a very sad commentary on our judicial system,” stressing that the problems, though severe, are not beyond remedy. He pointed to a culture of endless adjournments, preliminary objections, and interlocutory appeals as the biggest obstacles to timely justice. These practices, he argued, have transformed access to justice into an arduous struggle, eroding public confidence in the judiciary.
There are also cases of miscarriage of justice and judicial corruption currently being investigated on the global stage where the chairman of Owigs and Obigs Nigeria Limited, Sir Emeka Okorie had petitioned the court of arbitration, the UK parliament, the commonwealth of nations over how, according to Okorie, the judiciary manipulated his case of International commercial contract breach by Zenith Bank against Obigs and Owigs.
Only two weeks ago, a group of concerned diaspora Nigerians carried out a peaceful protest to the UK parliament where they went to submit an investigative report and petition concerning the judicial system and their collaboration with financial institutions to subvert justice in Nigeria.
