ACCESS TO JUSTICE: A PRAGMATIC APPROACH FROM CONSTITUTIONAL AND JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVES IN NIGERIA

One of the most pressing issues in modern day Nigeria is the colossal damage that class status has imbued in the formal and informal judicial system were certain people are privileged above others because of their finances, influence and capacity in society and politics this act automatically makes the marginalized, vulnerable people in society to lose confidence in the Judiciary’s administration of justice pushing them to other paths to access justice like protest etc. This pressing demands as however pushed for the narrative of legal reform based on the fact that law since inception has always been about equity and justice as opposed to the narrative of today’s society that has over commercialized justice making money the priority and not upholding the rule of law that has a driving force for equity and justice. The legal reform has put the judicial officers which are the Nigerian government, the judiciary, Legal Aid Council, non-governmental organization, Legal practitioners and The Nigerian bar association off the top of their seats to propose and implement pragmatic measures that has a sole duty of enhancing access to justice to all citizens of Nigeria irrespective of gender, tribe and religion. The Nigerian Constitution which is the supreme law of the land provide for fair hearing and access to the law courts by every citizen in Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) but this has often been more theoretical than pragmatic, It is therefore against this background that this study considers access to justice: a pragmatic view from legal and judicial perspective morphed out from to critically look at the laid down law on access to justice, the pragmatic and theoretical laws, the barriers to access to justice and also look at it from an international standpoint to provide a detailed document that will serve as an enlightenment for the common man to know what to do in situations were he/she is not getting justice. Doctrinal methodology is adopted including primary and secondary sources of law. The primary courses rely on decided cases and constitutional and statutory provisions in the examination. The secondary sources include relevant books, journals, statutes, newspapers, and internet materials. This study finds out that alternative dispute resolution mechanism has a great potential to avail the common man when justice is not the order of the day in the law court and that the Legal aid council and non-governmental organization can help the common man access justice permanently if they transcend the challenges plaguing them like lack of man-power, lack of financial capacity etc. The study recommends for the legal aid council, non-governmental organization to partner with like-minded financially stable organizations and for the common man to try as much as possible to enlighten themselves about their rights and relevant legal knowledge by attending legal clinics, outreaches and workshops.