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General News of Tuesday, 20 October 2020

Source: thenationonlineng.net

Lagos judiciary seeks stakeholders’ collaboration on small claims court

File photo: The Judicial service File photo: The Judicial service

A Judge of the Lagos State Judiciary, Justice Yetunde Adesanya, has urged stakeholders to collaborate with the judiciary to bring the small claims’ courts in conformity with global best practices.

She said the state Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Alogba, had put in place a standardised system through which the judiciary reviews small claims’ courts operation.

Under this system, magistrates are mandated to submit evaluation reports.

Justice Adesanya spoke at a training for staff of the judiciary on the small claims’ court in the justice delivery system.

In a paper entitled: “Overview of the small claims’ court – The Journey so far”, Justice Adesanya noted that developing countries were also embracing the concept of the court as the fastest system for monetary dispute resolution.

Tracing the court’s history, with reference to the Washington 1930 model,  Justice Adesanya said its establishment stemmed from the recognition that enforcement of simple monetary disputes needs to be resolved without having to resort to the complexity of regular court processes.

She maintained that small claims’ court has helped in serving as an avenue for providing easy access to an informal, inexpensive, efficient and speedy resolution of simple debt recovery not exceeding between N5million claim and N10million defendant’s counterclaims.

According to her, the courts have been instrumental in decongesting magistrate courts, responsible for fast and speedy disposition of small claims, improved economic outlook for competitive performance which has become a cynosure to the World Bank through it Doing Business Index (DBI) among sever.

Commending Justice Alogba for initiating the training in spite of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, Justice Adesanya provided an insight on how the establishment of small claims’ court in Lagos State by the immediate past Chief Judge, Justice Opeyemi Oke was significantly influenced by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council timetable and World Bank Ranking.

Justice Adesanya, referring to the country’s Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (EGRP), said the establishment of the court, coupled with its successes, made Lagos State a two-time recipient of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council award for 2019 and last year.

She assured that the state will continue to consolidate on its past successes as well as on the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business Index (DBI).

According to her, the state Judiciary will leave no stone unturned, especially with the launching of court automation, wider inclusion of small claims court users and implementation of accountability and transparency report among others.

Earlier, Justice Alogba described the training as an avenue to enhance participants’ excellent operation in the discharge of their primary assignments in small claims court.

He stressed the need for the trainees to remain focus throughout the training. He urged them to see it as an opportunity for better productivity.