Daniel Dauda, Jos
The Chief Judge of Plateau State, Justice David Mann, has tasked Judges to always deliver judgement devoid of sentiment, saying, “speedy adjudication without fairness hampers the efficiency of justice”.
Justice Mann maintained that justice granted but yet unenforce eroding public confidence.
The Chief Justice made this known as he declared open a two-day capacity-building workshop on the State Action on Business Enabling Reform (SABER) in Jos the state capital.
Daily Champion reports the interface spearheaded by the Plateau State Government in collaboration with the World Bank.
The workshop aimed to empower magistrates, clerks, and bailiffs with the requisite knowledge and skills necessary for proficiently handling small claims debt recovery cases and employing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms.
The CJ draw the attention of District Court Judges to the significant enhancement of its monetary jurisdiction under the amendment approved portion to the section 17 of the District Court.
According to him, “the monetary jurisdiction of this court was expanded to Five million Naira (N5 million). I encourage you all to fully cast your minds to this statutory provisions. Apply them decisively and exercise these expanded statutory provisions for the benefit of humanity”, he noted.
Shedding more light on the significance of the exercise, Deputy Chief Registrar, Magistrates High Court, Plateau State Judiciary, Justice Debra Nyam, acknowledged this is the sixth or seventh year that the Judiciary are having such program with SABER in the state.
She said this has really improved the business community in Nigeria because when you have the confidence that, whenever you have a dispute with your customer or business partner, you can come to court and, in less than 60 days, get justice and obtain judgment, it is something commendable.
“The Small Claims Courts aim at the quick dispensation of justice as it relates to small businesses and transactions. In regular court proceedings, adjudication may take up to six months, but with the Small Claims Courts, it is time-bound. It is 60 days, and we try as much as possible to achieve that. We’ve been achieving it, ensuring that from hearing to judgment, we work within a timeline of 60 days.
“The jurisdiction is five million naira. If you have a dispute ranging from zero to five million naira, you can come to the Small Claims Court.
“This has greatly helped in sensitising the public and making people aware that there is a Small Claims Court where they can seek redress when they have challenges with their business partners or customers involving disputes of not more than five million naira,” she added.
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