The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf, has bemoaned the lack of courtrooms for Magistrates to conduct cases within Abuja and its environs.
The CJ, who spoke at an event the court held to mark the opening of its 2023/2024 legal year, decried that “currently, some of our Magistrates are sharing court rooms.”
According to him, “the Judiciary has both a legal and moral obligation to provide quality service to the public as provided by various constitutional provisions.
“This, in a way, enhances and engenders confidence in the courts and respect for the decisions coming out of them.”
He stressed that despite the fact that the FCT High Court has a total complement of 58 judges, yet, “the courts are being overstretched to its fullest elastic capacity in terms of caseload.”
Of course, when courts are overloaded with cases, it can lead to several challenges, including delays in the legal process and potential strain on the judicial system.
“Creatively, the FCT High Court is adopting various means to address the situation.
“These include, amongst others, implementing efficient case management systems to streamline proceedings, including using e-filing to enhance efficiency; prioritizing old cases and urgent matters; encouraging parties to resolve disputes through mediation or arbitration, and settling cases through plea bargain mechanisms.
“We are also in the process of reviewing our Civil Procedure Rules to make for faster and less cumbersome adjudication processes”
In a bid to promote competency and provide access to justice and quality service to the public, the FCT High Court introduced the e-affidavit platform and e-filing of court processes. This thrust is in line with developments in technology and the demand of our current age.
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“There is no doubt that digitisation of the courts enhances transparency, accountability, effectiveness, efficiency, and accessibility of justice, and aids in the fight against corruption, among other advantages.
“The process of digitisation of the FCT courts will enter its next phase this legal year to effectively integrate a case management system. Our target is for the courts to go electronic and paperless.
“Virtual proceedings of courts will be encouraged. Virtual hearings entail hearings conducted where the presence of the parties and their Legal Practitioners is dispensed with.
He said in the 2022/2023 legal year, the FCT high court completed 4,293 cases, while the magistrates handled 7,328 cases.
The CJ added, “For the records, the FCT High Court officially commenced the 2022/2023 legal year on Monday, October 17, 2022.
“It brought forward a total number of 12,513
cases, encompassing both civil and criminal matters, from the preceding 2021/2022 legal year.
“Similarly, the Magistrates Court had 5,629 cases carried forward from the previous Legal Year.”
Yusuf continued, “Moving on to the 2022/2023 legal year, the FCT High Court assigned 5,952 new cases, consisting of both civil and criminal matters, while the Magistrate Courts received 7,354 filings, also encompassing both civil and criminal cases.
“In the course of the year, the FCT High Court successfully determined 4,293 cases, consisting of both civil and criminal matters, resulting in an impressive overall completion rate of 62.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Magistrate Courts successfully determined 7,328 cases, encompassing both civil and criminal matters, thereby achieving an outstanding completion rate of 90 per cent.
“As the 2022/2023 legal year wound up, there were 13,996 pending cases, covering both civil and criminal matters, at the Magistrate Court
Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe
