The House of Representatives is considering a bill to increase the number of appellate court judges from 90 to 150. 

The bill, sponsored by Patrick Umoh, representative of Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Oboy Akara federal constituency (Akwa Ibom), was ratified during the plenary session led by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu.

The bill is titled ‘A bill to amend the Court of Appeal Act, Cap C.36, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to increase the number of justices of the Court and provide for the appointment of a minimum of 6 justices in every judicial division of the court for speedy and efficient justice delivery and to improve citizens access to justice and related matters’.

The bill also requests the appointment of a minimum of six justices in each judicial division for swift and effective justice.

Opening the floor for further deliberations on the bill’s general principles, Mr Umoh explained that the number of justices of the court, including its president, according to the Court of Appeal (Amendment) Act 2005, was 70.

Furthermore, the 2013 amendment of the Act increased the number of justices to 90. 

However, according to him, the number of justices provided by the law has become insufficient following the recent creation of new divisions like Kano, Gombe, Akwa, and Asaba.

Mr Umoh also mentioned that over the years, the number of cases brought before the court has become voluminous, thus necessitating the creation of new divisions as the rapidly increasing workload with fewer hands may affect the quick and seamless delivery of justice.

He said, “Most of the divisions of the court do not have up to 6 justices, implying that two panels of the court cannot sit simultaneously to attend to the cases, which therefore stall expeditious and timely hearing and disposition of cases.

“As a matter of fact, judicial divisions of the court with a huge volume of cases like Abuja and Lagos ought to have a minimum of nine judges so that the divisions can have three parallel sittings simultaneously.”

The legislator stressed that the current number of judges affects the dispensation of justice in election appeals.

In his opinion, an amended act would increase the quality and soundness of judicial decisions by requiring more justices in the adjudication process at the appellate level.