The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, on Monday, swore in 62 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) in Abuja.
Prominent amongst the lawyers conferred with the SAN rank were, Mustapha Ibrahim, Ikani Kanu-Agabi and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lawyers Sylvanus Tahir and Rotimi Oyedepo.
The CJN urged the new SANs to take on their new status with all sense of responsibility as it required high standards of merit.
“I will like to say that the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria comes with immense prestige, dignity and greater responsibilities as well.
“Traditionally, those conferred with the rank automatically become members of the Inner Bar and revered apostles of the temple of justice. It is an honour no conferee can afford to toy with.
“The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee took time to screen and assess all the relevant documents submitted by the applicants before arriving at its decision. I can confidently affirm that the committee has done an excellent job.
“The number of applicants for 2022 Senior Advocate of Nigeria award is 174. Out of this number, 111 are advocates and 63 are academics.
“The total number of qualified applicants after the preliminary screening is 129; comprising of 73 legal practitioners and 56 academics respectively.
“After conducting the specified screening and filtration exercises, the LPPC came up with 62 successful candidates who, by all standards, can be regarded as eminently deserving of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria,” he said.
Meanwhile, Olukayode Ariwoola said the Nigerian Judiciary is not truly independent because of the absence of financial autonomy.
In his words, “I will make it clear to whoever that cares to listen that when the Nigerian Judiciary is assessed from the financial aspect, we are yet to be free or truly independent.
“The annual budget of the judiciary is still far from what it ought to be. The figure is either stagnated for a long period of time or it goes on a progressive decline when placed side-by-side with current realities in the market.
“Prices of goods and services are not getting less or friendly to buyers, while at the same time, our purchasing power is abysmally low and weak enough to transmit on the same wavelength with market forces.”
