Bill to increase FCT High Court judges passes 2nd reading

A bill to amend the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Act, to provide for increase in the number of judges in the court has scaled second reading in the House of Representatives.

Sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, and seven other legislators at plenary on Thursday, the bill sought to increase the number of judges to a minimum of 100 from the current maximum of 70.

Leading the debate on its general principles, one of the co-sponsors, Jonathan Gbefwi (PDP, Nasarawa), said that the bill had passed first reading on July 23, with the aim of expediting dispensation of justice in the FCT.

According to him, the High Court of the FCT stood as a crucial pillar in Nigeria’s judicial framework, as it serves FCT residents and plays a pivotal role in other cases of national importance.

He recalled that at the beginning of the 2022/2023 legal year, the FCT High Court carried forward 12,513 pending cases from the previous year.

The lawmaker said that despite the substantial backlog, over the same period, the court assigned an additional 5,952 new cases, bringing the workload to a level that greatly strained available judicial resources.

Gbefwi explained that the court was limited in the number of judges it could engage, stressing that the inadequacy was significantly affecting the rising volume and complexity of cases brought before it.

He further said that by increasing the number of judges, the bill hoped to reduce delays in case resolution, ensuring more efficient handling of cases and enhancing public confidence in the judiciary.

He noted that the court’s current bench of judges is insufficient to keep up with these caseloads.

“The considerable backlog reflects the limitations faced by the court in addressing the high volume of cases, which is only anticipated to increase with Abuja’s population growth and economic development.

“Given the rapid expansion of Abuja’s population, coupled with an increasing caseload spanning various legal domains, the need for additional judges has become pressing.

“This bill, therefore, is introduced to address these systemic challenges by increasing the statutory number of judges for the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.

According to him, the bill proposes an amendment to Section 1 of the extant act to increase the number of judges in the court from the current maximum of 70 to a minimum of 100 judges.

This, he said, would allow for greater judicial capacity to address the current and future needs of the court.

In his ruling, the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, referred the bill to the Committees on FCT Judiciary and Constitution Review for further legislative action.

Bill to increase FCT High Court judges passes 2nd reading