Socio-Economic Factors and Vulnerability of Court Users to Judicial Corruption in Lagos State, Nigeria.
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Date
2014
Authors
Waziri, B.A
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Abstract
This study investigated the socio-economic factors that make court users vulnerable to judicial corruption in Lagos State. The rationale for studying the vulnerability of court users to judicial corruption stemmed from the fact that corruption has been identified as one of the major obstacles to justice administration in contemporary Nigeria. The study focused on three High Courts and five Magistrate Courts in Lagos State using Cross-Sectional Survey and Key Informant Interviews as its methods of inquiry. Quota and purposive sampling techniques were used to interrogate 1,155 court users, which comprised of 827 litigants and 328 lawyers. The study was carried out between May and June, 2011. Findings from the research showed that age, income, regularity and gender of court users were not significant predictors of their vulnerability to judicial corruption. The study, however, found a strong relationship between the level of education of court users and the type of case brought to court as significant predictors of court users’ vulnerability to judicial corruption at P-value=0.000. Specifically, the research revealed that court users with higher level of education and those with criminal cases are more vulnerable to judicial corruption than their counterparts in the courts. Based on the above findings, the study recommended holistic anti-corruption programmes in the courts since vulnerability of court users to judicial corruption is hardly predicated on either age or income. It also recommended that more attention should be paid to cases in the criminal courts since criminal cases have higher propensity of heightening judicial corruption.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Lagos.
Keywords
Socio-economic Factors , Court Users , Judicial Corruption , Vulnerability
Citation
Waziri, B.A (2014), Socio-Economic Factors and Vulnerability of Court Users to Judicial Corruption in Lagos State, Nigeria. A Thesis Submitted to University of Lagos School of Postgraduate Studies Phd Thesis and Dissertation, 295pp.