Lawrence Olaoye 
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that effective synergy among the legislature, executive and judiciary was at the heart of judicial reform in the country. Osinbajo dropped this hint yesterday at the virtual edition of the Wole Olanipekun & Co (WOC) Justice Summit.
The summit themed “Developing an Institutional Concept of Justice in Nigeria” featured prominent speakers including, the convener, Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN); Prof. Fidelis Oditah (QC),(SAN); Mr. Yemi Candide-Johnson (SAN); notable economist, Prof. Pat Utomi; and a prominent lawyer from the UK, Brie Stevens-Hoare (QC), among others.
According to the Vice President, “I think it is important for us to sit together – the leadership of the profession, the executive, the judiciary and the legislature, to take a second look at some of these issues.”
He said the collaboration to get the reform going should also include states, saying, “Working together, the subnationals and the federal government and their judiciaries, we can make a fundamental change. This is obviously a matter that we must take seriously and address, not just as professionals but we must involve all the arms of government.
“Because of the kind of system that we run, the reform of the Justice System is many-sided. It can’t be done by one segment. It cannot be done by the executive alone, it cannot be done by the judiciary alone, and it certainly cannot be done by the legislature alone.
“There is a need for us to appreciate that it is a manysided thing, complicated and we have to simply look for ways to work together. I am seeing that critical mass of individuals in the legal profession, in the executive and also in the judiciary who are willing to reform.
We are working quite hard to see how we can all come together to make a real change.”