Obiano Calls For Review Of Rules Governing Civil Procedure In Justice Administration

A call has been made for stakeholders in the Justice sector to evolve acceptable rules of proceedings that will ensure efficient and effective functioning of courts.

Governor Willie Obiano made the call while addressing a two day public summit on the review of civil procedure rules for courts, organized by the Anambra State Judiciary in Onitsha.

He said the synergy between the Executive and Judicial arms of government in the state led to many landmark changes in the system of Justice Administration, as well as working condition of judicial officers in the state.

The Governor who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Solo Chukwulobelu, hailed the Chief Judge, Justice Peter Umeadi for kick-starting the positive initiative and described as apt the process that would lead to total overhaul of the rules governing Civil Procedure of various cadres of courts in the area.

Earlier, the State Chief Judge, Justice Umeadi had observed that the rules of courts had become obsolete, necessitating the setting up of various review committees to look into them.

He extolled the committees for coming up with draft documents that would be subjected to public scrutiny before being adopted as rules of procedure for all courts in the state.

Justice explained that participants at the Summit, had the opportunity to make comments and suggestions in areas they did not agree with recommendations of the Committees which will
be reflected in the final draft that will ultimately become the rules of procedure for courts in Anambra State.

Some of the key areas that engaged the attention of participants were issues of enhanced court fees, summary trials, granting of adjournments, probate matters, preliminary objections, pre-trial
conferences, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanisms.

A resource person, Mr. Arthur Obi-Okafor, SAN, advocated synergy between the regular courts and the multi-door courts, to ensure that judicial officers were bound to enforce the ADR reached at the Multi-Door Court House.

Chairman of the Planning Committee, Mrs. Ngozi Oyeka, re-assured that all the views expressed by members of the public would be collated and put into a working document.