Former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, on Tuesday advocated for a comprehensive review of the experience of litigants and other users of the justice system.
He also insisted that the judiciary should be treated as critical economic infrastructure.
The former governor made the declaration while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 New Legal Year Summit in Lekki, Lagos, on the theme, ‘Justice as an Economic Infrastructure: Strengthening the Judiciary for Africa’s Fifth Largest Economy.’
The former governor posited that the justice system should be assessed not only through legal principles and advocacy but also by examining the quality of service experienced by those who depend on the courts.
Fashola, who explained that the summit provided an opportunity for stakeholders to ask fundamental questions about the effectiveness, responsiveness and accessibility of the justice system, added that, “This initiative, in my view, invites us to look at justice beyond the precepts of legalism and all of the advocacy that takes place, and to see the essence of justice and the judiciary as a science.”
The SAN asked the judiciary to determine whether its users were receiving the quality of service they expected, even as he stressed the importance of obtaining direct feedback from litigants and other court users.
He proposed that a professional survey should be commissioned to establish the current experience of people who use the Lagos justice system.
According to him, such a survey should examine how long cases take from commencement to conclusion, how effectively commercial disputes are handled and whether judgments are enforced in a manner that restores litigants to the position they ought to occupy.
The former governor charged stakeholders to determine how long an average case takes in Lagos and whether that period corresponds with the expectations of court users.
Fashola equally drew attention to the importance of land and property disputes to economic development, noting that land is a significant basis for capital formation and business activity.
The SAN questioned whether the Lagos judiciary was sufficiently responsive to disputes affecting businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.
The former governor recalled reforms undertaken in the Lagos justice sector decades ago, including changes to court rules and procedures, the introduction and expansion of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), frontloading and the recruitment of younger lawyers, adding that those reforms demonstrated the importance of periodically subjecting the justice system to institutional self-examination.
Fashola equally called for greater attention to informal dispute-resolution mechanisms, arguing that some disputes could be resolved outside conventional court processes.
For the former governor, the continued evolution of ADR could help reduce pressure on the formal court system, particularly where disputes involve customary or community-related issues.
Fashola said the judiciary should examine whether existing reforms were still adequate for present-day demands.
The former governor also challenged stakeholders to examine the judiciary’s role as an arm of government.
Fashola, SAN, called for the establishment of a judicial ombudsman to provide an avenue through which citizens and users of the justice system could lodge complaints about their experiences.
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