By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

Former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice George Oguntade and other eminent  jurists, yesterday, condemned the congestions in courts, and called for the cancellation of objection to jurisdiction of want to hear cases.

Guest lecturer at the commissioning of the new law office building belonging to Tayo Oyetibo & Co., Justice Oguntade spoke on Social Contract: Which way Nigeria?

He pointed out that the act of transferring judges from regions where they are only exposed to a particular kind of practice to regions where they are faced with complex commercial disputes, contributes to the congestion in court, as some of the judges find it difficult to adjudicate on such cases in their now new area of posting.

He said: ”The level of congestion in our courts is unacceptably high, such that it takes between 15 to 20 years to litigate from the High Court to the Supreme Court. The time has come when judges should stop taking application on jurisdiction. We must cancel the regime of jurisdiction, instead of moving from Federal High Court to Lagos High Court, then to Court of Appeal, over the issue of jurisdiction.”

Oguntade also condemned the size and funding of National Assembly, noting that so much money was wasted in maintaining the public service.