JUDICIAL REFORMS; THE DELTA STATE PERSPECTIVE; A DISCUSSION PAPER BY JOHN AIKPOKPO-MARTINS, CHAIRMAN, NBA WARRI BRANCH

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1 JUDICIAL REFORMS; THE DELTA STATE PERSPECTIVE; A DISCUSSION PAPER BY JOHN AIKPOKPO-MARTINS, CHAIRMAN, NBA WARRI BRANCH PRESENTED AT THE SESSION ON THE CURRENT DEVELOPMENT IN JUDICIAL REFORMS IN NIGERIA AT THE 2015 NBA CONFERENCE ABUJA, TUESDAY THE 25 TH OF AUGUST Chairman of session, Honourable Justice Mohammed Tanko JSC, 2. My fellow distinguished Speakers, 3. Distinguished Colleagues, 4. Ladies and Gentlemen, It is with utmost humility that I stand before you to deliver this short paper on the on the Current Developments In Judicial Reforms in Nigeria; the Delta State perspective. After a deep introspection of what I am expected to present in this section vide the topic given to me, I am of the view that I am expected to identify and discuss the areas in the Delta State Judiciary that needs reforms or upgrading to enhance and reinforce a better delivery system in the administration of justice in Delta State. The judicature of Delta State is mainly made up of the High Courts, the Customary Court of Appeal, the Magistrate Courts, the Customary Area Courts, the Revenue Courts and the District Customary Courts. In the course of my presentation the administration of justice in the aforementioned courts will be X-rayed in order to adequately address the topic of the conversation. But what is reform?

2 Reform is defined by Wikipedia to mean the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory e.t.c. It is trite that reforms must be undertaken periodically in order to enhance a better system. In the light of the above therefore, we shall attempt to examine where we are, how we got to where we are now and how to move forward. In this wise, this paper shall dwell on the following; A. The personnel of the Judiciary i.e. the Judex and the support staff; B. Infrastructures i.e. the buildings, cars, judicial quarters C. Constitutional and Institutional frame work, i.e. financial autonomy and funding. A. THE PERSONNEL OF DELTA STATE JUDICIARY The qualification, appointment and output of Judicial officers (judicial officers in this presentation include Magistrates, Revenue court Judges, Customary Court Presidents e.t.c) considerably inform the state of the Judiciary and is an indicator of whether the system needs reforms or not. I would want to say from my privileged position that part from the constitutional and statutory qualification, which provides in the main that a person shall not be appointed to the bench except he is of a certain age post call, I dare to say that other necessary and essential qualifications like experience in practice, character and exemplary conduct have not been particularly considered, recognized or otherwise relegated to the background in the appointment of judicial officers in Delta State. We are used to scenarios where the wives, children and relatives of politicians and other influential persons in the society are brought from their shops, homes and aimless sojourn abroad and are appointed to the bench on the sole consideration of having attained a certain post call age without further consideration. We understand that the National Judicial Council has set a very rigorous system of appointments of High Court Judges. We hope the body can uphold and sustain the standard. But this distilled system for the appointment of Judges must be cascaded down to the appointment of Judicial officers of the lower bench in Delta

3 State. The system of appointment of Judicial Officers in Delta State is still shrouded in utmost secrecy. The NBA Warri Branch had in 2011 fought bitterly with the then Chief Judge of Delta State Hon. Justice R.P.I Bozimo on the clandestine and unilateral appointments of Magistrates by her without recourse to the State Judicial Service in accordance with the extant law. It is my humble view that the appointment of unsuitable persons to the bench has a direct effect on the output of a judicial officer and in the quality of the dispensation of justice to all. Another worrisome practice is the automatic appointment of Chief Registrar of the Delta State High Court and the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to the position of Judges on the mere consideration that they have attained those positions, without further considerations to ascertain their suitability or otherwise for the exalted but tasking position of a Judge. Presently in Delta State, we have about 31 Judges of the High Court, and about 2/3 of their Lordships are either former State Counsel or Magistrates. It is well known that most Judges with such background and experience are not well versed in civil litigation, which forms about 80% of the cases in Court. The number of avoidable but costly mistakes being made by them and the attendant harm on the administration of justice cannot be quantified. I would therefore in this regard that there should be a more robust mode of appointment of members of the bench, with the Bar being allowed to have a greater say in the suitability or otherwise of those under consideration for appointments. I further posit that a greater percentage of appointment to the Bench must be made from legal practitioners in private practice as the experience garnered from private practice is immeasurable. B. INFRASTRUCTURE There is no gain saying that the court halls in the entire Delta State cry out to high heavens for reforms. The most modern of the court alls are so small, without good and comfortable furniture and devoid of the prestige and aura of being a court hall. The court buildings in Warri for instance are temporary structures,

4 same having been built by the State Government sometime in The Delta State Government under the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan administration had brought down the old structure that was built during the colonial era, but as we speak, the proposed Warri High Court Complex is still at the excavation level after more than 7 years. The court halls in other judicial divisions of the Delta State Judiciary are not better off. Indeed reported cases abound where lawyers and the judge de-robe on the directives of emphatic judges as a result of the poor ventilation, excruciating het and the attendant discomfort in the said court halls. There are no sufficient and habitable judicial quarters for the judges of the High Court, though they are provided with very good official cars. However, a greater percentage of the magistrates of the Delta State Judiciary are not provided with official cars, poorly remunerated and generally relegated in the welfare scheme. No doubt, the entire Judiciary in Delta State needs massive reforms. However, the customary court presidents seem to be better catered for compared to the magistrates. There is virtually no provision of subventions to the Assistant Chief Registrars/Directors of courts for the administration of the courts this has resulted in the extortion of both lawyers and litigants by officials of court before rendering official services. No doubt, massive reforms are needed in the Delta State Judiciary. C. CONSTITUTITIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK; FINANCIAL AUTONOMY & FUNDING. There cannot meaningful deliveries without adequate funding. The judiciary is a very critical sector that needs adequate funding. Presently, Delta State judiciary is financially autonomous, though this autonomy was achieved only after the judicial staff strike early this year. The effect of the autonomy is therefore yet to be felt. PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE.

5 The future does look brighter than the past rot that the Delta State Judiciary fell into over the past years. This is because; we now have a new Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Marshall Umukoro, who has undertaken to reform the Judiciary under his watch. There has been a revival and reformation of some sort going on since the said Hon. Chief Judge came on board. His efforts so far have been on the following; 1. The Multi-Door Court House; The Delta State Multi-door Court House which was created vide a Law in 2012 has not been able to effectively take off for lack of adequate funds. However an office of the Multi-Door Court House has been opened in Effurun. The Honourable the Chief Judge informed us that he has plans to open offices of the MDCH in Warri, Kwale and Ughelli in no distant future. 2. REVIEW OF THE DELTA STATE HIGH COURT RULES: The Delta State High Court Rules came into operation on the 31 st of December, There have been several calls lawyers for a review of the Rules and on the making of practice directions for so long without any corresponding action from the office of the Chief Judge before now. However, the present Chief Judge in his drive to reform the judiciary and ensure better service delivery wrote all the branches in Delta State seeking for their inputs towards a review of the said Rules. I would have to say that the Committee of NBA Warri branch set up to come up with a position paper submitted its report to the Branch at its August 2015 meeting on the 16/08/2015. One of the most important suggestion from the said committee is a recommendation that the Hon. Chief Judge should set up a standing committee of both members of the Bar and Bench to advice the Chief Judge from time to time on the need to issue practice directions to address challenges observed in the operations of the Rules of Court. 3. CREATION OF MORE JUDICIAL DIVISIONS

6 The Chief Judge in his drive to bring justice closer to the people just created the Agbarho, Umunede and Burutu Judicial divisions. This is a step in the right direction that has the support of the Bar. 4. CREATION OF AN INSPECTORATE DIVISION. The Chief Judge of Delta State has also set up an inspectorate with the mandate of monitoring and ensuring that all courts sit regularly and as and when due, ensure best practices and act as an ombudsman to maintain ethics, rules and procedures within the Judiciary. 5. APPOINTMENT OF MORE JUDGES. The Chief Judge has informed members of the Bar in Delta State that persons above 50 years of age will not be encouraged to seek appointment to the Bench henceforth. The reason behind same is that the appointment and retirement of Judges in Delta State has become like a circus where someone appointed today is retiring the next day, thereby depriving the Judiciary of experienced Judges. The Chief Judge has also set up a committee to which judicial officers of the lower Bench submit their monthly returns. This is to ensure better output and create a parameter to reward hard work and diligence by way of promoting and recognition of outstanding judicial officers. In the same vein, he has instituted a mechanism where at the beginning of every legal year, the judgments of Judges that were upheld or upturn at the Court of Appeal would be collated and circulated amongst Judges. This he believes will commit the Judges to be more industrious. The Chief Judge after a physical visitation and inspection of all the Courts in Delta State has promised to tackle the issue of infrastructural decay in the Delta State Judiciary as from This will however commence in 2016 due to present paucity of funds in the State.

7 There is so much that needs reform or reformation in Delta State. The Chief Judge has promised the training and retraining of staff by retired and experienced staff on the workings of the Judiciary. We strongly canvass for the creation of a Sheriff division in the Delta State judiciary, akin to what is now obtainable in the Lagos State judiciary. The Bar is seriously dissatisfied with the present regime obtainable in Delta State in the service of court processes and in the execution of court judgments. This section needs fast and surgical reformation. We wish the Honourable the Chief Judge of Delta State well in his reforms driven administration and the Bar shall at all times support his efforts. We hope that in no distant future, the issue of technological upgrade of Delta State Courts will form part of our narratives, hopefully based on the premise that the above reforms now undertaken by our Chief Judge are successfully executed to their logical conclusion. We wish the Delta State Judiciary well. JOHN AIKPOKPO-MARTINS ESQ., CHAIRN NBA WARRI