President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to approve a sweeping set of judicial reforms aimed at expanding the nation’s courts and improving the administration of justice.
At Tuesday’s plenary session, Senate President Godswill Akpabio read a letter from the President requesting an amendment to the Court of Appeal Act to increase the number of justices from 70 to 110.
According to the President, the proposal is intended to strengthen the appellate court and ease the growing backlog of cases.
President Tinubu also transmitted a bill seeking amendments to the Federal High Court Act to raise the number of judges from the current statutory provision of 70 to 90, an increase from the original benchmark of 50 judges. He urged the Senate to give the proposed legislation accelerated consideration.
The reform bills were subsequently referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Business for further legislative processing.
In addition, the President requested Senate confirmation of the appointment of Justice Oyewole Joseph Kayode as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The Senate also received a separate Court of Appeal Amendment Bill proposing the establishment of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre, aimed at resolving suitable cases outside the conventional court system. This bill was likewise referred to the Committee on Rules and Business.
Beyond the judiciary, President Tinubu forwarded another communication seeking amendments to 24 health sector bills, citing the need to address challenges arising from excessively large board memberships.
