An estimated 68 million legal cases remain unresolved in Nigeria, a new report from the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law has revealed.
The report titled, “Justice Needs and Satisfaction in Nigeria,” which was released on August 29, 2024, said the legal problems span a variety of issues, including land disputes, domestic violence, neighbour disputes, and family problems, among others.
Also, according to the report, an estimated 19 million legal problems out of the 101 million that were considered resolved had resurfaced.
The report partly read, “In the JNS Nigeria 2023, we estimated that around 61m legal problems were ongoing, with people still trying to find solutions.
“One year later, around 26 per cent of these problems remain ongoing. This means around 16m legal problems from Wave One are still in need of a solution.
“Besides these ongoing problems from Wave One, around 19 per cent of the 101m legal problems that were considered resolved resurfaced again. Combining these two categories suggests around 35m legal problems from Wave One are still (or again) in need of a resolution one year later.
“In the second wave of data collection, around 58 per cent of people experienced, on average, 1.44 new legal problems. This means an estimated 95m new problems happened in the last year.
Although many of these were quickly resolved, around 34% remained ongoing at the time of the interview.
This means 32 million new legal problems from wave two are still in the process of being resolved.
“Combining the ongoing problems from Wave One and wave two results in an estimated 68 million legal problems that are in need of a solution. In other words, the demand for justice in Nigeria is relatively stable over time, remaining consistently very high.”
The report, however, noted that legal problems in the country remained high and dynamic.
