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The immediate past Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has stated that Nigeria’s judicial system is crumbling under the weight of corruption, ethical violation and poor standings.
Osinbajo, who spoke during the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yenagoa Branch, 2025 Law Week Plenary Session, themed, ‘Setting The Pace: Law, Leadership and Transformational Development’, which held on Friday at the Nigerian Content Monitoring and Development Board (NCDMB), Nigerian Content Tower, Swali, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, said that stories of lawyers acting as conduit for the giving of bribes to judicial officers were rife, lamenting that the perception that the country’s system of justice is corrupt, with the bar and the bench culpable was enough damage.
His words: “The legal profession is crumbling under the weight of corruption, ethical violation and poor standings. Stories of counsel acting as conduit for the giving of bribes to judicial officers are rife. The perception that our system of justice is corrupt and the bar and bench are culpable is enough damage.”
Speaking on a sub-theme, ‘The Legal Profession: A Vision for a New Era’, the former vice president said the legal profession is in a radically new dispensation — a dispensation created by the most consequential advancement of new technology, perhaps the most turbulent and uncertain times in living memory.
He said: “The pace of technological advancement today, rise of globalisation, the democratisation of information has already transformed every profession. Yet in the legal profession, we are bound by precedents and traditions and some bad habits have remained stubbornly resistant to change.
“Our profession needs a new vision, a new set of tools in a new era and that is so whether we like it or not. We are in a vastly different era.”
On what the legal practice looks like today and what it would look like in the next five years, Osinbajo stated that it was scary that a lot of the work lawyers do or used to do could now be done much faster and much more accurately by technology.
He noted: “The systems don’t get tired; don’t go on leave and do not ask for extra pay. These tools are becoming much cheaper and like mobile phones they will be available everywhere and to every one very soon.
“Technology is fast replacing basic legal analysis and opinion writing, a big part of our cake has been bitten off by technology and more will be bitten off very soon and very quickly.
“Globalisation has made legal expertise easily available in real time anywhere. What is happening now before our very eyes is the most profound revolution that our profession has ever experienced, a revolution that will radically change the delivery of legal services and even adjudication forever.”
“We are no longer the gatekeepers and custodian of basic legal knowledge; that is all gone. But more importantly, we are no longer the custodian of legal reasoning and legal opinions.
“What we should be looking at now is an enhanced curriculum for legal training if students have to be competitive in the years to come.” He advocated the integration of legal technology and AI into the curriculum to enable students to learn how to critically assess inputs from systems like ChatGPT and other AI tools.
Declaring the plenary session open, Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, said most people are threatened by AI, noting that if it goes the way it is perceived, a lot of people would lose their jobs.
Diri said his government would continue to respect the rule of law and guard the independence of the judiciary. He added: “We will always continue to work in the rule of law where justice will prevail and where justice will be served in an impartial manner and form. I want to appreciate you all for gathering today and dissecting the issues that affect us.
“If this country must survive, you have to make it survive. If you stand by the truth and by the rule of law, I’m sure that this country will survive as you know you are the last hope of the common man. If not for you I will not be standing here today as Governor of Bayelsa State.”
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