Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, may have queried judges who failed to deliver at least three or four judgements in the 2013 judicial calendar year.
Justice Mukhtar had earlier vowed to sack any indolent judicial officer, who could not deliver at least three or four judgements in one judicial calendar year.
Already, the Federal and State High Courts have commenced their annual vacations.
A reliable source told National Mirror that several judges across the country have been invited to Abuja by the CJN to give reasons why they could not meet up with the directive.
According to the source, the judges were invited, following a recent performance evaluation carried out by the CJN.
Specifically, it was gathered that the CJN at a recent meeting with Chief Judges stressed the need for judicial officers to be masters of their courts and not give room for undue delays.
The judges were also directed to report to the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, lawyers who were in the habits of seeking unnecessary adjournments as ploys to delay cases in court.
"Any judge that failed to deliver the required number of judgement and meet up with the performance assessment carried out the CJN would be penalised. They are supposed to be masters of their courts and not give room for unnecessary delays," the source said.
The CJN had on May 19, while receiving Nigeria's Judicial Performance Evaluation 2008 – 2011, compiled by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS, expressed shock that some judges could not even deliver up to two judgements in a quarter.
Justice Mukhtar had said there was no need keeping in the system, a judge that could not deliver three to four judgements in a year.
She said: "The National Judicial Council will henceforth use its performance evaluation reports to weed out incompetent and indolent judges from the bench. This is because it is highly absurd to observe that some judges cannot even deliver up to two judgments in a quarter.
"We are now thinking of looking at the performance evaluation of the judges for the purpose of discipline. If a judge cannot deliver three to four judgments in a year, there is no use keeping him on the bench. He or she will be shown the way out."
National Mirror