By Henry Ojelu

Professor Sampson Erugo is Dean of the Faculty of Law, Abia State University (ABSU), Uturu and one of the 73 lawyers recently conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. In this interview, he speaks on lack of independence by the judiciary and why executive order 101 signed by the federal government will not solve the problem.

He also speaks on EndSARS crisis, recession, social media regulation and other sundry issues. Excerpts

Nigeria recently experienced a wave of protest over SARS brutality. What is your assessment of the actions of the protesters and the response by the government and what are your thoughts on the way forward?

Of course, the protesters had the right to the peaceful protest they engaged in. It is difficult to imagine where you deny people even the right to protest what they detest. From all available reports, the protesters conducted themselves peacefully, and even when some hoodlums attempted to disrupt the peace, they resisted the provocation. And their demands were genuine! The government’s response in using force to disperse the protests must be condemned.

Negotiation and genuine peaceful dialogue could have served the purpose. We have professionals in negotiation and mediation that could have been involved to resolve the protests. As a trained Mediator, I know there are positive dimensions of every conflict, and when you suppress protests you lose the chance to exploit the positive dimension to the conflict as well as opportunity to resolve the problem permanently.

You will agree with me that there is currently something like ‘peace of the graveyard’ in the areas where the protests were suppressed. Life is yet to return fully, and there is the air of uncertainty. Even the Police are yet to resume full security operations. One hopes that the Panels of Inquiry will come up with recommendations to douse the tension and appease the people. The simple way forward is for the government to address the genuine concerns of the protesters and ensure that those reasons for the protest do not occur again.

Various panels have been constituted to investigate human rights abuses by the police across the country. In your view, what kind of recommendations should the panels make to tackle abuse of human rights by security personnel?

I doubt that the Panels will have enough material to support genuine recommendations because the way the protests were suppressed will discourage many from coming out to express their genuine concerns. The Panels may wish to invite professional groups, particularly the NBA whose members are involved daily in cases of human rights abuses by security personnel, to assist in making recommendations. For me, I believe the cases are not difficult to find; the question is whether the institutions involved will agree to the imminent change.

The FG recently signed Executive Order 101 as a solution to the judiciary’s inadequate funding challenge. In your view, is this an effective way of solving the perennial funding challenge of the judiciary?

We all know the solution to the challenge of funding in the Judiciary: financial independence of the Judiciary just like the other arms of government as envisaged by the Constitution. The problem does not lie in laws or the legal framework, but in the execution or implementation of the legal framework as done to the other arms of government. So, a lot depends on the ethical competence of those placed in authority of the state to do the right thing as an ethical value.

The Executive arm of government has obviously hijacked the powers of the three arms of government. They feel they are the ones to detect what is good for the Legislature and the Judiciary. They want to detect when and how funds should be released to the other arms. This is an offshoot of our history of military rule. The Legislature appears to have liberated itself to a certain extent, though sometimes they allow executive stooges to be installed as their leaders. But at every point in time, the Legislature can twist the Executive to get its fair share, and the Legislators are enjoying.

Unfortunately, the Judiciary has not been that fortunate because of its conservative nature. It cannot fight for itself and has been relegated to a beggar arm of government. That is the only reason why the Executive arm will tease the Judiciary with Executive Order 101 instead of doing the right thing. What really happened to the constitutional and other legislative provisions on the funding of the Judiciary as one of the three arms of government?

Why should the Judiciary as one of the three arms of government not receive its statutory funding like the other two arms from source? My take is that the three arms are equal components of the Government and should be treated equally in funding. It is not for the Executive to dictate by Executive Order how the Judiciary should be funded. Flowing from the Budget provisions, the Judiciary should be receiving its funding just like the other arms of government, and accordingly, deal with the funds the way it deems fit. Executive Order 101 is an admission of the impunity of the Executive arm regarding the funding of the Judiciary.

What is your position social media regulation in Nigeria? Don’t you think there are not enough laws to tackle the abuse of social media in the country?

Admittedly, there is so much abuse of freedom on social media, but I doubt that the kind of regulation proposed will not further encroach upon the already endangered human rights of Nigerians. A further worry is that every such regulation is abused by law enforcement agencies, and opens up new dimensions of impunity and corruption.

Nigeria is officially in recession. What are your thoughts on how the economy can be better managed to ensure quick recovery?

Well, this second recession within a period of five years in this administration is difficult to appreciate. I am not an economist, but common-sense dictates that the government should rejig the system, particularly the economic team. My impression is that something is not just working in the current team, and the President may wish to engage more experts without political consideration. I mean those that can perform the economic magic of not just getting us out of the recession, but also growing the economy. Nigerians are suffering.

What post COVID-19 challenges do you foresee for the judiciary and law practice in Nigeria and what is your advice on the way out?

A major challenge is a delay in the judicial process. So many cases were stalled during the lockdown period. This will add to the pressure on the courts, the lawyers and system generally. Though Nigerians hardly appreciate this fact, justice delayed is justice denied. The courts and stakeholders may wish to work extra hours to clear the backlog. Christmas holidays may be shortened this year.

Again, the challenge of ICT was brought to the fore. Unfortunately, most lawyers are still ‘analogue’ or not competent in modern Information Communication Technologies implicated by COVID-19, and could not, and still cannot cope with the introduction of ICT and Virtual Court proceedings. As we speak some of the positive developments in this area are fast fading away as thing return to normal.

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