ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes post-independence Nigeria to explain the failure to reform and indigenize the country's law and justice. It focuses on the role of the country's post-independence civilian governments more than that of the military regimes. The chapter reveals several explanations for the continuation of British colonial policies and programs in Nigeria. Appropriate law and justice restructuring would officially acknowledge, encourage, and strengthen Nigeria's traditions, customs, and indigenous laws as the primary means of regulating relationships, thus indigenizing law and justice in the country. The argument that Nigeria's law and justice should be reorganized to ensure the primacy of the country's traditions, customs, and native laws is based on scientific research activities, which show the efficacy of the country's customary laws. The importance of reforming and indigenizing law and justice for post-independence Nigeria cannot be overstated. Research shows that the law and justice situation in contemporary Nigeria does not reflect the appropriate level of indigenization needed in this post-independence era.
