'Encourage Out of Court Settlement'
From Lillian Okenwa in Abuja
State Chief Judges have been advised to encourage out of court settlement even as legal practitioners have been asked to embrace and promote alternative dispute resolution.
At the close of the Legal and Judicial Reforms Summit held in Abuja yesterday, the summit resolved that Chief Judges should issue practice directives to all judges to encourage out of court settlement of disputes once facts of the cases permit.
It was also held that other states of the federation should follow the Lagos State example of creating a Public Defenders Office to assist in Alternative Dispute Resolution.
The summit, which directed stakeholders in the Justice sector to develop master plan for this, added that customary or traditional methods of settlement of disputes should be supported.
Asserting that state and local governments should establish Legal Aid schemes at their levels, the summit, which noted that lawyers should endeavour to provide their services under the scheme, held that the Arbitration and Conciliation Act should be amended to make enforcement of arbitral decisions easier.
"Appeals should not lie all the way to the Supreme Court in arbitration proceedings," the summit added.
While stressing that there should be adequate public enlightenment on the benefits and administration of Alternative Dispute Resolution, the summit resolved that the subject should be taught in every law faculty and the Nigerian Law School.
The summit, which is a component of the Economic Management Capacity Building Project (EMCAP), was initiated in view of the role played by the judiciary and legal system in the enforcement of financial laws and regulations.
Delivering the keynote address at the event, which hosted judicial officers from all parts of the federation, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, who commended the project initiators, averred that the planners of the EMCAP project having noted in particular that the fight against corruption and other economic crimes required a more effective and efficient legal and judicial system than what we have had in the past, proposed that the operations of the legal and judicial sector be strengthened through this project.
Noting that an effective legal system is needed in every facet of governance, the CJN however pointed out that while reforms are necessary, it must preserve the cherished values of the legal and judicial system.
"Reforms must not throw away those aspects of legal and judicial culture that guarantee justice and fairness to all persons. Court decisions must continue to be rooted in judicial precedent, not the arbitrary whim of the individual judge.
"We must continue to require that judicial officers be patient and cautious in the consideration of all matters brought before them and not rush with undue haste to easy conclusions," he said.
He advised that, "the system must always strive to find the truth, which means that we must always hear both sides. Laws must be fairly, not selectively applied.
"Conversely, it must reject reforms that conflict with these principles."
Uwais disclosed that certain persons and groups now attempt to coerce the judiciary into deciding cases in a certain way by making wild allegations of impropriety against judicial officers.
Those indulging in such practices, he said, "might be labouring under the mistaken notion that freedom of expression covers such conduct.
"For the avoidance of doubt, the judiciary welcomes any information giving particulars of impropriety against judicial officers where the allegation is based on fact.
"Every such allegation is thoroughly investigated. Several judicial officers have been removed, where the allegations have been found to be true, but to try to influence the outcome of judicial proceedings by crying wolf when the person making the allegation knows fully well that it is false, amounts to contempt of court, punishable as crime."
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