The Court of Appeal in Nigeria has begun its first Working Retreat in Lagos. The Retreat will end with the 2020 Annual Conference slated for Friday 11th December 2020.
The Working Retreat features special court sittings by all Justices of the Court of Appeal drawn from all Divisions of the Court.
” The purpose of this retreat is to send out a public message that this Court will no longer be a dumping ground for those who seek to hamper justice delivery in Nigeria,” President, Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, told the audience in her opening remarks at the Lagos Division of the Court.
Justice Monica, 63, became the second woman to head the Court of Appeal after Zainab Bulkachuwa, the first woman, retired in March after forty-five years in the Nigerian Judiciary.
Until her current position, she was presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, and Life Member of Body of Benchers.
Justice Monica described the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal as a critical Division within the Court because of its location in the commercial nerve center of Nigeria. But despite this, she lamented that the Division has continued to experience a timeless delay in the hearing of appeals. The volume of appeals and the limited number of Justices available to hear them, she said, have contributed largely to these delays.
As of 1st December 2020, over 4,630 Appeals and 6,207 Motions are pending in the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, according to statistics of Appeals lodged at the Court.
Justice Dongban-Mensem said a majority of these Appeals had either been abandoned or purposely left to linger endlessly.
The Justice said “a good number of these appeals were filed with the aim of stalling the judicial process. This situation must certainly not be allowed to continue.”
The Working Retreat aims to reduce the burden of Appeal cases pending at the Court. Special court sessions will sit daily from the hours of 9 am to 12 pm between the 7th and 10th of December 2020.
The special court sessions will involve 23 Special Appellate Panels. The Panels will sit in batches of six Special Panels and each Panel will hear about 15 ripe appeals. Five Panels will sit at five designated Courtrooms of the National Industrial Court in Ikoyi and one panel at Court 1 of the Court of Appeal in Lagos Division.
A total of 345 appeals are scheduled for hearing. The scheduled Appeals hearings represent only 8% of the total number of Appeals in the Lagos Division.
“The task ahead may appear daunting, but we are resolute to decongest the court,” Hon Justice Dongban-Mensem said.
Nnenna.O
