LASG SET TO REVIEW CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES 2012 TO ENSURE SPEEDY DISPENSATION OF JUSTICE
The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke has disclosed plans by the State government to review its Civil Procedure Rules 2012 as part of efforts to ensure speedy dispensation of justice.
Oke, speaking at a summit on Tuesday in Lagos, said the new rules expected to come into effect from January 2019 will discourage lawyers in the habit of delaying trial and block hindrances delaying justice delivery as strict sanctions would be imposed on violators.
“We need to take a firmer position, particularly on adjournments. In Singapore, adjournment is only allowed on matter of life and death. Things we tolerate here are not tolerated in America and UK. Why can’t we replicate those rules in our court rules in Nigeria if it will hasten justice delivery”, she queried.
Justice Oke emphasised the need to always review the court rules to suit socio-economic demands and for laws in the State to remain sound, active and functional.
The Chief Judge pointed out that court congestion has been a major problem in the justice sector as such adjournment will no longer be granted on unnecessary applications.
He encouraged members of the Bar to always advise their clients on the usage of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in resolving issues so as to reduce the workloads of judges, stressing that all cases must first be referred for mediation and that Courts should be a last resort as done in other jurisprudence around the world.
The Chairman of the Civil Procedures Rules Committee, Justice Kazeem Alogba, giving insight into the proposed review already carried out, stated that any lawyer who scuttled any trial date will pay a minimum fine of N100,000 or N50,000 in the case of an interlocutory application for which a date has been fixed for hearing.
Justice Alogba said non-compliance with Form 01 on Pre-Action Protocol will render the process a nullity in addition to ‘serious punishment’, adding that where a matter is left in the docket of a judge, six months after commencement of trial, the matter will be summarily struck out.
Earlier, the Chairman of the event, Justice Williams Dawodu, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, commended Lagos Judiciary for setting the pace by coming up with new rules that can be replicated by other States and comparable to other jurisprudence of the world.
In her words, “We want to ensure that the rules in Lagos State continue to be functional and for them to be functional, they must adapt to changes in the society. I have confidence that when work on the new rules are completed, they will be honest, sincere and objective contributions”.