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| Professor Wole Soyinka |
Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka has long stood as one of Nigeria’s most uncompromising moral voices. On Thursday, 15 October 2026, at the inaugural Nigerian Ombudsman Annual Conference in Abuja, he once again cut through institutional platitudes with a sharp diagnosis of a chronic national ailment: the stubborn failure to enforce court judgments. Favourable rulings, he argued, amount to little more than empty paper when those who secure them never taste the fruits of justice.
“I would like to see these judgments implemented. I would like to see justice delivered, not merely pronounced,” Soyinka declared. The gap between judicial pronouncement and actual implementation, he said, has bothered him for decades. “Why is it that we cannot guarantee the implementation of a court judgment? Why is there such a disconnect between the plaintiff, the judgment itself, the judges, the entire structure of justice, and the victim who has sought justice?”
He described the phenomenon in characteristically vivid terms as “medicine after death.” Some Nigerians, he noted, have died without ever benefiting from judgments delivered in their favour.
He cited cases in which courts ordered the restoration of passports, only for the orders to languish unimplemented for years. Land disputes, he added, often escalate into violence and destruction precisely because lawful decisions are disregarded.
The conference, organised by the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) — Nigeria’s official Ombudsman institution — carried the theme “System Building and Compliance: Key Factors to Good Governance.”
It marked a historic first in the Commission’s more than 50-year history, following its Golden Jubilee celebrations the previous year. Held at the Ladi Kwali Conference Centre in Abuja, the gathering brought together senior government figures, traditional rulers, and civil society voices to examine how institutions can move beyond personality-driven operations toward durable, rules-based systems.
A Long-Standing National Problem
Soyinka’s critique did not emerge in isolation. The difficulty of enforcing court judgments has been a persistent feature of Nigeria’s justice system for decades. Legal analysts describe it as an “enforcement deficit” — the gulf between a judicial victory and the practical realisation of its benefits.
Successful litigants frequently encounter procedural obstacles, dilatory appeals, resistance from judgment debtors (especially government agencies), and weak institutional capacity for execution.
Judgments against public institutions have proved particularly intractable. Although the 1999 Constitution vests courts with power to determine disputes involving government bodies, successful claimants often face bureaucratic inertia, claims of sovereign immunity in practice, or outright non-compliance. High-profile historical examples, including prolonged defiance of orders in politically sensitive cases under previous administrations, have eroded public confidence. Lawyers and rights groups have repeatedly warned that when the state itself disregards court orders, ordinary citizens have little incentive to respect the law.
Land cases illustrate the human cost vividly. When a court awards title or possession and the losing party simply ignores the ruling, communities sometimes resort to self-help, leading to clashes, property destruction, and further cycles of litigation.
Passport and immigration-related orders, as Soyinka highlighted, can leave individuals stranded for years, unable to travel for medical treatment, education, or livelihood.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad, the Emir of Lafia, reinforced the point at the same conference. Compliance, he stressed, must begin with those in authority. When political leaders and government agencies treat court decisions as optional, citizens cannot be expected to treat them as binding.
Voices for Stronger Institutions
Other speakers framed the enforcement problem within the broader challenge of building resilient systems. Senate President Godswill Akpabio, represented by Senator Neda Imasuen, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, argued that Nigeria’s fundamental governance challenge remains the transition from personality-driven institutions to system-driven ones. “Our collective objective must therefore be to move progressively from personality-driven institutions to system-driven institutions,” he said.
Embedding compliance in institutional culture and accountability structures is essential, he added, and the PCC offers citizens a vital channel to challenge unlawful, unfair, oppressive or unreasonable administrative actions.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, represented by House Leader Professor Julius Ihonvbere, emphasised the unequal relationship between citizens and the state.
Government institutions possess powers and resources that individuals often cannot match. An unexplained delay in pension payments, an arbitrary administrative decision, or the denial of a legitimate entitlement can impose serious hardship. The PCC, he noted, provides an accessible avenue for redress and helps ensure administrative authority is exercised fairly and responsibly.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, in a video message, linked the discussion to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. Good governance, he said, requires credible, transparent and accountable institutions capable of meeting citizens’ legitimate expectations. Complaints should not be viewed merely as criticism; they are valuable sources of information for identifying institutional weaknesses, improving processes and preventing systemic failures.
Former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku called for greater public awareness of the Ombudsman’s services. In a relatively litigious society, he observed, the PCC offers a less expensive and less cumbersome refuge for ordinary Nigerians seeking redress against unfair treatment — whether unpaid gratuities and pensions or inadequate care in hospitals.
The Ombudsman’s Expanding Role and Rising Caseload
PCC Chief Commissioner Bashir Abubakar presented striking figures that underscore both growing public demand and institutional strain. In the past two years the Commission received approximately 1.28 million complaints and resolved more than 716,000. By comparison, during its first 50 years it handled about 1.8 million complaints and resolved roughly 1.4 million. The recent surge, Abubakar said, reflects increased public awareness and confidence, yet it has left more than 560,000 cases pending.
Abubakar credited support from President Tinubu and the National Assembly with helping address critical funding, staffing and operational challenges. Reforms under his leadership, which began in September 2024, have included improved budgetary allocations, implementation of the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure, settlement of arrears, nationwide biometric staff verification, expanded training (thousands of personnel in recent years), creation of new directorates, and technology upgrades. Monthly allocations to state offices have risen significantly.
The Commission, he noted, has engaged ministries, budget authorities and lawmakers to strengthen its capacity.
Established in 1975, the PCC is mandated to investigate maladministration, corruption and abuse of office, and to protect the rights of citizens and non-citizens in their dealings with public institutions and certain private organisations. Its relative accessibility — cheaper and faster than formal litigation — makes it a natural partner in closing the enforcement gap Soyinka identified. Yet the sheer volume of complaints also reveals the depth of administrative injustice many Nigerians experience daily.
Why Enforcement Matters Beyond the Courtroom
The failure to enforce judgments carries consequences that extend far beyond individual litigants. It undermines the rule of law, weakens investor confidence, and fuels cynicism about democratic institutions. When citizens conclude that winning in court is only half the battle — and sometimes the easier half — they may abandon formal legal processes altogether or resort to extralegal means. Land conflicts that turn violent, for example, impose social and economic costs that far exceed the original dispute.
From an institutional perspective, non-compliance signals that power still often trumps process. Building the “system-driven institutions” Akpabio advocated requires not only better laws but consistent accountability mechanisms, adequate resources for execution, and a cultural shift in which obedience to court orders becomes the default rather than the exception.
Soyinka’s intervention places the Ombudsman institution at a potential inflection point. By tasking the PCC with prioritising the enforcement gap, he invited it to expand its traditional focus on administrative complaints into a more assertive role in monitoring and facilitating the implementation of judicial decisions. Whether the Commission possesses the legal tools, political backing and operational capacity to do so remains an open question — one the conference itself was designed to begin answering.
The Nobel laureate’s personal stake was unmistakable. Closing this abyss, he said, would allow him to “die happy.” For millions of Nigerians still waiting for the medicine of justice to arrive before death, the stakes are equally existential. The first Nigerian Ombudsman Annual Conference has placed the problem squarely on the national agenda. Turning diagnosis into remedy will require sustained political will, institutional reform, and the kind of moral clarity Soyinka has long supplied.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Politics and Technology.
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