RE: Outsourcing Justice: Time to Claim Our Profession Back!

And so, the Federal Government last week banned the not-so-Super Eagles from international competitions for the next two years. Then, the EFCC stormed the offices of the Nigerian Football Federation carting off documents. One hopes the first is not simply a knee-jerk reaction, and the latter will result in questions answered. Questions such as: how was the huge sum earmarked for the team’s preparation disbursed? Is there some truth to the allegation that shortlisted candidates for team coach were asked to inflate their remuneration and by whom? Who bungled the travel and hotel bookings in South Africa and at what cost? Were all those government officials and hangers-on who were in South Africa really necessary and were they there legitimately? Who footed the cost? If the taxpayer, why?

And when those questions are answered, culprits made to face the law.
Here's a question for President Goodluck Jonathan: would the books of the NFF have been looked into if the Super Eagles had progressed in the competition and done us proud?
Meanwhile, there are legal issues concerning government’s ban. Not surprisingly, our cover this week is on that.

Below is a reader’s response to my column of June 15:
I read your column, Outsourcing Justice: Time to Claim Our Profession Back, published in THISDAY LAWYER of Tuesday, 15 June, 2010. It is indeed time to claim back our profession. That was the pith of one of the papers delivered at the recently held IBA Regional Conference in Lagos. However, as much as we need to claim back our profession, there is indeed a bigger need, as it were, to claim back our country from the hoodlums holding Nigeria to ransom. Why do I say this?
We cannot divorce the legal profession or the judiciary from the rest of the country. The judiciary, for example, is a reflection of the larger Nigerian society. Ours is a society without any values whatsoever. We are in a country where right means wrong and wrong means right.

Why do we expect the judicial system to work in Nigeria? That is an unrealistic expectation in the circumstances. The people at the helm of the judicial system are Nigerians and they are not immune to the graft and corruption of the larger society. What about those who make appointments to the bench? Are they not Nigerians? Once a bad appointment is made either in respect of the intellectual capabilities of the appointee or the appointee’s integrity then there is a problem for as long as such a person remains on the bench.

You wrote about your consternation during proceedings at a narcotics smuggling trial. Quite a number of the prosecutors are just going through the motions. There is no zeal or passion for their work. A lot are on the lookout for a big pay day like majority of us. The narcotics smugglers brought to court are a small percentage of those involved in the trade. Majority are never caught. The authorities simply look the other way.

It is also well and good to complain about the image problems brought about by narcotics smuggling. However, those in government cause more damage to the country. When people loot the treasury with impunity and there is no punishment of any sort, then those who do not have the opportunity to loot the treasury will become drug dealers, armed robbers, fraudsters, etc, all in a bid ‘to make it’ in Nigeria.

There is not much difference between the politician and civil servant who loot the treasury, the armed robber, the drug dealer, the judge who takes bribe and the lawyer who gives, etc. The basic difference is in the opportunities available to each of them. The underlying values are basically the same. If the rogue politician did not have the opportunity to rob the treasury he will probably be an armed robber so long as he has the guts to match his sticky fingers.

There was also the point about judges taking control of their courts. At some point in your article, it appeared as if the judges were the victims. I really do not know about judges being traumatised and living under the threat of a petition to NJC. A lot of the judges behave like the Lords of the Manor.

As far as I am concerned, no fairly competent judge with integrity will lose sleep about any petition to NJC. When a judge is in control of his court both lawyers and litigants know and they will not fool around in that particular court.
The problem comes when judges have compromised themselves. The interesting thing is that after a time the word will go round that a particular judge is amenable to bribery. Of course the judge will soon be afraid of his shadow.

Some judges are so lawless and reckless it is unbelievable. Some courts start sitting by 11 am and the lawyers do not complain. It is not enough for us to talk about claiming back our profession, we must back up our speech with action. Just as we need to take our destinies in our hands to rescue Nigeria from the marauding politicians. As lawyers, we need to either boycott courts that sit at their own times or collectively lodge a complaint against such judges.

We must also confront the graft in the system. No one complains or stands up to the court workers who exploit lawyers and litigants alike. The court workers will demand outrageous sums to do the things they are paid to do. In claiming our profession and country back, we must stand up to such civil servants and refuse to be exploited against our will.

There is no doubt that once a judge is in control of his court then things will move considerably faster. The problem appears to be that some people have taken up appointment as judges when they have no business being judges. They do not have the mental capacity or the discipline required for the job.

I am counsel in a matter that has been in court since 2005. The matter is purely on interpretation of an Act. The judge who was handling the case was just not up to it. He just kept finding reasons to adjourn the matter for about five years. Fortunately he got transferred this year and we started afresh before a new judge. The matter has been set down for judgment as I write.
There is another matter that for about six years the judge had only taken two witnesses. He will fail to sit for no apparent reason. He will start seating at about 10.30 am and by 2 pm he will round up. He has been transferred and hopefully the new judge will be more diligent.

I have a personal matter, which I commenced by originating summons. Final addresses were adopted in the matter more than one year ago. But as I write, the judge has failed to deliver judgment to my utter frustration. He has been transferred and the news is that he went with the file and so no one knows what will become of the case. Such a judge has every reason to fear appearing before the NJC.

Even with our challenges and limitations, it is not difficult to speedily resolve disputes. A judge should not skip court except for ill health or for some serious emergency. At the beginning of a legal year all the activities for which a judge should be involved in should be noted in his diary and cases must not be adjourned to such dates. But what do we have? We have a situation where some judges routinely skip court. There are judges in the federal courts in Lagos whose families are outside Lagos. Some of them travel out every Friday, but rather than come back on Sunday, they will come back on Monday, with the attendant consequences to the litigants in their courts.

A judge should only have on his list the number of cases he should be able to take in a day. Why have sixty cases on the cause list if it is not sheer mischief? Once trial is opened in a matter, it should proceed from day to day or in the worst case there should not be more than two weeks adjournment at any time up until the case is concluded. In delivering judgment, same should simply be summarised and copies of the judgment made available to the litigants on the same day. There is really no need for a judge to spend, for instance, two hours of precious judicial time reading a judgment in court.

Being a judge takes common sense. The appellate judges generally behave like gods. Motions with their exorbitant costs are routinely struck out for all sorts of ridiculous reasons. The courts are meant to do justice to the parties and not a classroom where motion papers are scrutinised for typographical errors and for other inconsequential errors.

On the whole it is critical we claim our country back from the hoodlums holding the country hostage. We need a country where the representatives of the people will truly represent the people and not themselves, a country where people will go into public service to serve and not to loot. That way we would have a judicial system we shall be proud of.
•Ikenna Okoli, FCIArb., Legal Practitioner & Notary Public, Surulere, Lagos