{"id":71664,"date":"2018-03-02T17:07:02","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T17:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/?p=19620"},"modified":"2018-03-02T17:07:02","modified_gmt":"2018-03-02T17:07:02","slug":"court-decogestion-lagos-judiciary-sets-up-committee-old-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/court-decogestion-lagos-judiciary-sets-up-committee-old-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Decongestion: Lagos Judiciary Sets Up Committee on Old Cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a bid to aid the speedy dispensation of justice, the Lagos State Judiciary will be embarking on a court decongestion process which will rid the High Courts of old cases, some of which date back 20 years.<\/p>\n

\"ImageJustice Opeyemi Oke, the Chief Judge of Lagos State said this at the inauguration of the Committee on Old cases in Ikeja High Court, Lagos.<\/p>\n

Justice Oke, in her speech, said it was not heartwarming that Lagos had the highest number of cases that were pending to be heard in the country.<\/p>\n

The Chief Judge said that President Muhammadu Buhari in a 2017 speech, had pointed out the high back log of old cases in Lagos courts.<\/p>\n

She noted that about 376 of such cases, most of which dated back over 20 years, have been identified for review in the State High Courts and may be referred to Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) for adjudication.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is on record that the Lagos State Judiciary has cases that date back to 20 years and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis image, if it persists, is hazardous to the economic wellbeing of the State and Nigeria ultimately.<\/p>\n

\"Image\u201cIn fact, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, while declaring open the Bi-Annual Conference of All Nigeria Judges of the Superior Courts held between Nov. 20 and Nov. 24, 2017 and organised by the National Judicial Institute, Abuja noted the fact that the Lagos State Judiciary had the highest number of pending old cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis situation apparently damages the brand of a \u201cGlobal Lagos\u2019\u2019 and one which I do not intend to see continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal Lagos requires and truly deserves a world class judicial system,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

Justice Oke said that in a bid to proffer a solution to the backlog, the state judiciary will undertake a review of all pending matters on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will determine the suitability of each case for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR),\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

Justice Oke said that a review of the 376 old cases which commenced on Jan. 22 had revealed the probable causes of delay, and the delays were classed into three categories.<\/p>\n

The Chief Judge said: \u201cInefficient case management by counsel accounts for 45per cent; Court indisposition and interlocutory appeals account for 20 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cause of delay of the outstanding 35 per cent has been ascribed to other factors which include numerous indulgent interlocutory applications.<\/p>\n

\u201cOthers are: courts going on national assignments in Election Tribunals and official assignments for conferences and trainings for months, protracted Case Management Conference, Multiplicity of interlocutory applications, Long adjournments, Trial having to commence de novo when a Judge is elevated or retires, amongst others\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Chief Judge said measures have been put in place to eradicate the delays impeding the progress of the cases.<\/p>\n

\"ImageJustice Oke said Justice S.B.A Candide-Johnson will chair an ad-hoc committee which will focus on discarding old cases in furtherance of the Backlog Elimination Programme (BEP) of the Lagos State Judiciary.<\/p>\n

The Chief Judge, in her speech, said a lot of law firms have volunteered their services for forensic screening of old cases and that efforts are being made to clear the backlog of old cases in the Magistrates\u2019 Courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Magistrates\u2019 Courts are not left in the bandwagon in this Backlog Elimination Programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cEfforts are currently being made to set up fast track and small claims units at the Magisterial level,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

Justice Oke solicited the cooperation of members of the public and lawyers to make the BEP work.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us come together to confront the monster of backlog and set the pace in judicial service excellence in Lagos State.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will aid to achieve a sufficient level of access to justice for the purpose of maintaining or improving the quality of the judicial system as a whole and the restoration of public trust in the judiciary,\u2019\u2019 she added.<\/p>\n

PM News<\/p>\n

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In a bid to aid the speedy dispensation of justice, the Lagos State Judiciary will be embarking on a court decongestion process which will rid the High Courts of old cases, some of which date back 20 years. Justice Opeyemi Oke, the Chief Judge of Lagos State said this at the inauguration of the Committee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t