Joel Nwokeoma writing in The Will
Indeed, what shall a country with a corrupt judiciary do? This remains one poser that has agitated many. That the foundation of justice, or better still, temple of justice, in Nigeria is being irretrievably destroyed by corruption, to the concern of many, was brought to the fore recently when the report of a survey on crime and corruption in the country, conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and National Bureau of Statistics with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, was released.More here
The survey shocked not a few with its disclosure that "Nigerian courts of law receive the biggest bribes from citizens among all institutions in which corruption is rampant", though it also indicated, for effect, that "among public officials, police personnel were most frequently alleged by respondents (58 per cent) to request the payment of bribes followed by employees of PHCN and the Water Board (39 per cent), Revenue officials (26 per cent ) as well as Customs (25 per cent)."
The executive summary of the survey particularly stressed that "though bribery in the judiciary was less frequent than in many other agencies, it required the biggest transactions." Respondents to the survey conducted in 2007, on a sample of 2,775 enterprises randomly selected to represent businesses active in the country, and a response rate of 79.4 per cent representing 2,203 interviews recorded, said they have paid the biggest bribes to the courts, an average of $87 (N13,050) per transaction.