This discourse is based primarily on personal experiences and cannot be attributed to supposition for it could be supported with confirmable evidence. I have also interviewed other interested parties affected by this recurrent issues of unhonoured adjournments. A central point of this exposition is the repeated adjournments that has metamorphosed into a lifestyle in a segment of the judiciary. Fortunately the federal high court have advanced comparatively and the court of appeal and the apex court have adopted the electronic application in transmission of relevant information to the bar. So the high Court and the magistrate court in Enugu ought to amend the adjournments issues. For instance, I have visited the two aforementioned courts on dates I was scheduled to appear in court and suddenly the court clerk makes an announcement of the absence of the presiding judge or the judicial officer.
What I can not understand is why the two courts mentioned have not laboured to collect necessary information from the bar to facilitate the timely transmission of any changes in the adjournments. For those litigants and counsels resident in the metropolis, the unplanned adjustment affects them minimally financially, though those living outside the jurisdiction the cost implications are astronomical. These issues should not arise as majority of the present day counsels have electronic devices and the litigants possess transmission apparatus as well. Evidence have proven that this inability on the part of the concerned courts to gather relevant information from the bar affect the total system in the end.
The inability on the part of the concerned courts to facilitate a workable system where information concerning the business of court could be made timeously available to those involved in the court process have created a quagmire for those whose matters linger in the ineffectual judicial system that have failed to improve with the corresponding courts. It is unfortunate to discover that there abound cases that have been contained in the judicial system for decades with slim chance of it witnessing a logical conclusion. Some of the litigants in the aforementioned matters expire during the pendency of those matters and are conveniently substituted to allow the
Continuation of those moribund matters.
The prevalent suggestion is for those bestowed with the authority to guide the judicial system to ensure that any court that is non performing or overloaded will have the excess luggage reduced by redistribution of cases to other less burdened courts. Also in accordance with the new world order of computer literacy and the advent of telephone sophistication, the segment of the judicial system discussed need to upgrade to restructure the way information is made available to lawyers and litigants to limit unnecessary wasting of scares resources. The palace of justice is the last hope of the common man and it is assumed to be a liberator of those craving for justice and in that position, justice sought-after must be procured in graduation through speedy proceedings and fair hearing.
The following recommendations will contribute enormously to acceleration of proceedings and subsequent conclusive judgments.
A. A collection of emails and phone numbers from respective counsels to enable the passage of any changes in adjournments caused by relevant administrative function.
B. The delivery of collected messages in regards to any adjournments to the affected litigants judiciously by their contracted lawyer.
C. A report of any changes in phone number and email of concerned counsels to the clerk of court to effect necessary adjustment.
D. Most importantly, constant free and open communication corridor between the judges and officer’s of the court as it will avail the clerk of the actual timetable of the court.
THE ECHO 