By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE
LAGOS — A retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice George Oguntade, has called for amendment of Rules of the Court, to aid advocacy in the nation’s judicial system, describing congestions in courts as worrisome.

Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, Justice Oguntade said congestion of courts was giving Nigeria a bad image among other countries of the world.

He said: “The purview of the legal profession has changed from what it was during my time in 1966, when I was called to bar, although there were only few lawyers then.”

Oguntade said urgent attention should be paid to the issues that gave rise to congestions of our courts.

He noted: “The practical solution to bring sanity to our court is for judges not to be afraid in doing wrong when adjudicating a matter, in as much as they are convinced that they are on the right path.”

“The duty of a judge is to adjudicate over a case. Whatever happens at the appellate court should not be of concern to him, as long as he had discharged his duty to the best of his knowledge. If judges don’t go wrong, the appellate court won’t have work to do. therefore, there is no wrong in doing wrong as a judge,” he said.

According to him, , his appointment as a judge in 1980 was not universally received by many lawyers, whose rational was that a business man can’t be a judge.  Justice Oguntade narrated how he had to become a furniture dealer in the turbulence of the legal profession, during 1966 till 1970. “Then, litigants were not forth coming so I was left with an option of looking for another means of survival,” he added..

“Our economy may not accommodate all the lawyers from the Law School, that is why young lawyers should learn how to survive outside the legal service. I was a carpenter before coming to the bench,” Justice Oguntade said.
He advised lawyers to be resilient.