You have no items in your shopping cart.
ABSTRACT
The judiciary is the foundation upon which democracy grows and develops. This is so because the judiciary is the only organ that deals with the administration and dispensation of justice in any democratic nation. Because of it's importance in human society, it behooves those who are entrusted with the dispensation of justice to be guided by the principle of truth and morality. It is a major feature of a democratic system of government it interprets laws that are made by the legislative branch or those that are made on the authority of the legislature. The existence of a judiciary in a democratic government is justified by the Principle of Separation of Powers which states that personnel who make laws should be separated from those who implement those laws; those who implement the law should be separated from those who interpret laws.
Nigeria is a nation with a chequered history of democratic rule. The pressures mounted on the Nigerian political system since independence created instability in Nigerian polity. Hence the Judiciary could not carry out it's roles effectively. The First, Second and Third Republics collapsed and thus, paved way for the inevitability of military incursions in Nigerian politics, which truncated the Nigerian nascent democracy. In the Fourth Republic (since 1999), the Judiciary had managed to live up to the expectations of concerned observers and analyst. Nonetheless, the shadows of prolong period of military rule coupled with the uncooperative nature and arrogance of other arms of government have compounded the role of the Judiciary.
Cases and instances from the content analysis showed that: the independence of the Judiciary helps in achieving sustainable democracy in Nigeria; Independent Judiciary enhances due process in a democratic state. Further analysis showed that incidences and court verdicts on issues relating to how the practice of separation of powers enhances the Judiciary to discharge its constitutionally stipulated roles in achieving sustainable democracy in Nigeria is convincing. This work therefore concluded that separation of powers enhances the efficiency of the Judiciary in Nigeria.
