The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, on Tuesday, charged judicial officers to sustain public confidence reposed in the judiciary by dispensing justice according to the provisions of the law and without fear or favour.
The CJN and the Chairman of the governing board of the National Judicial Institute (NJI) stated this while addressing the opening ceremony of the virtual national workshop for legal and research assistants held in Abuja.
The CJN said, there is the need for legal and research assistants, who assist judicial officers in carrying out research work to have a proper grasp of the law and adopt global best practices to improve the quality of their work.
“I must emphasise here that your work involves a mix of legal research and writing that may include gathering materials on the admissibility of evidence, drafting legal documents and examining legal history and precedents to aid you in your research work.
“For you to discharge your duties effectively, you must possess qualities such as diligence, perseverance, transparency, confidentiality, professionalism and punctuality to work,” he said.
The CJN also admonished participants to display solid integrity and be committed to work while avoiding corruption, adding that, such yardsticks are not only imperative for the image of the judicial officers, but also for the image of the legal research assistants and the country’s judiciary as a whole.
Justice Muhammad also charged the legal and research assistants to remain steadfast and diligent in their good and quality research work, keeping abreast on current trends and technological developments around the globe for efficient justice delivery in the country.
Earlier in his address, the NJI Administrator, Justice Salisu Garba said, the judiciary is seen as a bastion of hope and freedom for the common man and an uncompromisingly fair umpire in the eyes of litigants and the general public.
He, therefore, urged the legal and research assistants to be dedicated to their duties in order to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of judgements delivered by courts.
The NJI boss said the theme of the workshop, “Research as a tool for effective justice dispensation” will bring into front burner salient issues on the proper management and handling of information which comes to the knowledge of the legal and research assistants in the course of discharging their duties in the courts, as, “Confidentiality is a trait which you must all possess as legal and research assistants.
“There is a truism to the legal parlance that research is to a judge what diagnosis is to a physician, hence, the more meticulous your research is, the better and more impactful it is to effective justice dispensation,“ he added.
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