A Court Room Messed-Up Toilet And The Question Of Hygiene In The Covid-19 Outbreak

As a way of enforcing the Covid-19 Regulations made by the Federal and State Governments in Nigeria, mobile courts have been inaugurated to try and convict possible offenders of the Regulations — that is, those who fail to observe the core Covid-19 principles.

Citizens are advised to observe social distancing, stay at home order, and also maintain the highest level of hygiene. People are expected to wear their face masks, and keep their hands and environment clean. These are some of the measures employed to tackle the spread of the virus, globally.

As the courts get warmed-up to deal with offenders, and maintain the rules, the highest level of compliance is expected to be observed by them, being the judges of those who violate the law.

Judges are supposed to be fully masked, maintain social distancing, and observe good hygiene. The court room on the other hand is to be equipped with soap and water, hand towels, and even sanitizers to help for the sanitization of those who enter the court premises. The court is to maintain a good hygiene even during sitting. It will go a long way to deal with the spread of the virus. Of course, the court room is also a public gathering.

However, this is not the case with some of our courts. Imagine entering into a court toilet and seeing the whole place in a mess. What do you think will be the reaction?

It was an interesting scene when a Counsel visited the FCT High Court Apo Division and saw the toilet in a bad shape. He took a picture of the sight and voiced his worries over the unhealthy condition of the environment.

His comment reads:

“Pictures of FCT High Court Apo division toilet. I wonder how the court will justify its decision to punish those who are not living hygiene life during the Covid 19 period, the same is of the courts at Jabi, Maitama, Wuse, Nyanya and others. Is NBA not aware of this situation? It has been like this for years, I will write the CJ of the FCT High Court on this matter, it is a terrible situation.”

Truth be told, this is the situation of many courts in Nigeria. Apart from the fact that the courts are still lagging behind in the implementation of court room technology, many of them are not wearing a modern look. Some of the court’s furnitures are already eaten by termites; the foams of some of the chairs and tables in the courts have been made the home of fat bed bugs, broken ceilings and old fashioned facilities sum up the archaic state of our court rooms. Worse of it all is that, the lack of maintainance culture is also affecting the Judiciary. Judges too are not helping matters as some of them do not care about the poor state of the court room.

The unhealthy state of the court rooms is something that must be looked at with all manner of seriousness. The Judiciary and indeed the NBA must prevail on the Government to see to it that our courts are in good shape. The financial autonomy of the Judiciary backed by the new Executive Order No. 10 should go a long way to address some of these issues.

It is our hope that the Judiciary and other major stakeholders will do the needful and get our courts back in proper shape.