The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Justice John Tsoho has revealed that a total of 144, 910 cases are pending before the court in new legal year.
The Court in the last legal year had 15, 025 cases filed before it by litigants out of which 12, 870 were effectively disposed off leaving a balance of 2, 155 suits.
At the opening of the legal year of the Court in Abuja on Monday, the Chief Judge explained that the court carried over 142, 755 cases from 2021 to the 2022 legal year, adding that in the 2023 legal year, 15, 025 fresh cases were filed by various categories of litigants.
He noted that the Court would be going into the new legal year with the 144, 910 suits but expressed optimism that judges would rise up to the challenge of disposing the cases as quickly as possible.
The breakdown of the carried over cases showed that 42, 784 are civil cases, 36, 061 criminal matters, 41, 447 are motions while 24, 618 are fundamental rights enforcement suits.
Justice Tsoho who put the current number of judges on the bench of the Court at 95, thanked them for the speedy manner pre-election cases of the 2023 general elections were handled within the time allowed by law.
“We must dispense justice with integrity and without bias, we must display utmost competence and courage as well as dispose cases speedily.
“The Federal High Court will surely rise to the challenges of the future with the same tenacity and commitment that have defined its path thus far,” he said.
