Moshood Adebayo
Chief Justice of Nigeria,(CJN), Walter Onnoghen, has urged judicial officers in the country to be discreet in the use of the social media, saying it could expose their identities and compromise their Integrity in cases they handle.
He urged them to refrain from commenting on matters of public interest through social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, among others.
he CJN also urged them to ensure that they remove their personal information online and as well desist from uploading pictures of their holiday and personal activities on the social media.
Onnoghen spoke at the 1st Bi-annual Lecture organised by the Lagos State Judiciary with the theme: “Judicial Standards, Integrity, Respect and Public Perception, A Comparative Analysis from Independence in 1960 into the present Millennium”.
Represented by Justice Olabode Rhodes Vivour, the CJN also advocated that the study of Law be made a second degree course in Nigerian universities.
This, he said , is necessary, in view of the declining standards of education in the country, while lawyers who wanted to be appointed to the bench, in addition to 10 years post-call requirement, should also be mandated to have post graduate diploma in law.
He also lamented the current situation where some law graduates do not have a good command of English.
He described the situation as regrettable.
The CJN sid this could be addressed by rejigging the system of training lawyers in the country; to save the image of the profession in the eyes of the public.
In a goodwill message, Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode said major reforms being implemented in both judiciary and security sectors in the state were targeted at creating a sound pedestal for residents to be productive and in turn boost the state Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Ambode said the major reforms in the sectors were already contributing to the growth of the economy, assuring that no effort would be spared in ensuring the success of the various initiatives.
“I want to say that I am very proud of the judicial sector reforms going on in the state; we are very proud of the work being done by the Chief Judge and the combination of the efforts being carried out by the Attorney
General and Chief Judge is something we need to support.
“It is now very obvious that some major reforms are going on in the judicial sector and we are very proud as the executive arm of government to support the judicial sector reforms which we are also complementing with our security sector reforms.
“In totality, the reforms are aimed at improving the economy of Lagos and grow the GDP and what is going on in the judicial sector is significant and we are very proud of it,” he said.