The Nigerian Senate is considering a bill that would increase the number of Supreme Court justices from the current 21 to 30, in an effort to alleviate the growing backlog of cases clogging the apex court.
Naijaonpoint reports that the lawmaker representing Imo West senatorial district, Senator Osita Izunaso, disclosed this during a press briefing on Friday in Abuja, held to mark his second year in the 10th National Assembly.
The senator noted that although the apex court reached its full constitutional complement of 21 justices following the appointment of 11 new judges in 2023, the court remains overstretched.
Izunaso said, “Even with the full complement of 21 justices, the Supreme Court is overwhelmed. The volume of cases reaching the court daily is alarming. Some litigants are being given hearing dates as far ahead as 2027 and 2028.”
He explained that the proposed amendment would enable the apex court to sit in more panels simultaneously, thereby expediting the delivery of justice.
Izunaso said, “Supreme Court justices typically sit in panels of five, or seven for constitutional matters.
“If we have 30 justices, it allows the formation of at least five panels at once. That way, more cases can be handled at a faster pace.”
The lawmaker also called for sweeping reforms to filter out trivial cases from reaching the Supreme Court, which he argued should be reserved for only matters of national or constitutional significance.
“Why should a land matter in my village end up in the Supreme Court?” he queried.
He noted, “Many of these issues should start from the customary court and end at the high court. The apex court should be for terrorism, homicide, grand corruption — not tenancy or family disputes.”
He cited examples where tenancy disputes like “pay me my rent” or “my landlord kicked me out” had reached the highest court in the land, contributing to judicial congestion.
Sharing a real-life example, Izunaso said, “A case involving deceased litigants was fixed for 2026, even though the families had already settled the matter three years earlier. That’s an indictment of our system.”
Addressing suggestions of setting up regional supreme courts, the senator firmly pushed back.
“A unitary Supreme Court preserves the sanctity and unity of our judicial system. What we need is better filtration at a lower level, not more Supreme Courts,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Izunaso also revealed that the Senate is currently reviewing a bill to create Anim State in Nigeria’s South-East geopolitical zone.
According to him, the bill has already passed its second reading and is now before the Senate Committee on Constitution Review.