Ojutalayo, who described courtrooms as cramped, scorching and poorly ventilated, with inadequate seating, unreliable energy provide and inadequate safety, stated the situations undermine the efficient administration of justice.
He spoke on Tuesday whereas delivering a keynote handle titled “The Future of the Nigerian Magistracy in an Evolving Justice Sector” on the 2026 National Convention of the Magistrates’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), held on the Judiciary Complex, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
“The physical environment is therefore part of the quality of justice, and not a matter of administration alone. Many magistrates’ courtrooms are cramped, hot and poorly ventilated, with inadequate seating, unreliable power supply and little security.
“A court in which everyone present is uncomfortable and anxious to leave is not one in which careful justice is easily done. Many magistrates will admit that the temptation to rush through a list, simply to escape an unbearable room, is real,” he stated.
According to him, such situations may compromise litigants’ constitutional proper to a good listening to and limit the general public’s proper to attend court docket proceedings.
He additionally recognized inadequate funding, delayed welfare provisions, lack of official automobiles, heavy caseloads, outdated report-maintaining techniques and unclear promotion pathways as main challenges confronting the magistracy.
The SAN famous that delays in felony justice proceedings had been typically brought on by components past magistrates’ management, together with the failure to supply defendants in court docket, the absence of prosecutors and incomplete case information. He warned that such delays contributed to congestion in custodial centres, the place awaiting-trial inmates represent a considerable proportion of the inhabitants.
According to him, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), which seeks to make sure speedy trials by way of steady proceedings and limits on adjournments, can solely obtain its goals if all establishments work collectively.
On profession development, Ojutalayo stated magistrates typically lacked clearly outlined or publicly out there pathways to elevation to the High Court Bench. He urged State Judicial Service Commissions and Chief Judges to publish goal promotion standards and guarantee their constant utility.
Citing Ogun State for instance, Ojutalayo recommended the Chief Judge, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, whose profession progressed from the magistracy to the High Court Bench and finally to the place of Chief Judge.
He recalled that Dipeolu started her profession as a Justice of the Peace, was elevated to the High Court in 1999 and was sworn in as Chief Judge in October 2018.
In her handle, Dipeolu urged magistrates to prioritise skilled improvement, competence and diligence.
She stated she understood the calls for of the workplace and magistrates’ aspirations for promotion however cautioned towards permitting such expectations to decrease the standard of their service.
“Your current position is not a waiting room for another appointment; it is an office of considerable responsibility in its own right,” she stated.
She urged magistrates to pay attention patiently to litigants, apply the legislation accurately, handle proceedings pretty and ship nicely-reasoned selections. She additionally inspired them to embrace technological developments to allow them to deal with digital transactions, cybercrime, on-line fraud and electronically saved information.
Also talking, the Chief Registrar of the Ogun State High Court, Olakulehin Luqman Oke, referred to as on magistrates to form the way forward for the magistracy by way of integrity, innovation and high quality justice delivery.
He cautioned towards relying solely on know-how or the goodwill of these controlling assets.
“We must demand adequate facilities, welfare, training, transparent career progression and institutional respect. These are legitimate requirements of an effective judiciary, not personal favours,” Oke stated.
