In the courts’ system, apart from the judges and other staff of the court, lawyers are also officers of the court and as Ministers in the temple of justice. Therefore, the progress and development of the court should be of concern to lawyers. More so, the legal system is everyday developed in the courts especially up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Therefore, it is very important that every court of law should use the period of resumption from the annual vacation such as the current vacation, to take and or welcome recommendations, criticisms, suggestions, etc. for the development of the court and the courts’ system as a whole. It is this same mind that this paper has in mind in recommending some few recommendations for improvements in the Nigerian Courts and the courts’ system. First and foremost, it is humbly recommended that all public facilities, such as the toilets, separate toilets for males and females, sophisticated toilets materials, seats for waiting or queuing  members of the court who require or visit the court for one reason or the other, should be checked and improved upon. The writer of this paper has observed that some courts, such as the federal high court Headquarters, Abuja, have commenced the painting of some of the internal court’s building in preparation for the annual legal year, however, there is need for such courts to also pay considerate attention to those facilities enjoyed by the members of the public. Furthermore, it is humbly recommended that all HOCs should review the Rules of the Court especially, and inclusive of the fees chargeable for all services required by the litigants or applicants or lawyers. The issues of unlawful fees charged for some services whereas no service would have been rendered still continue to persist as if nothing is done wrong. This have been in practice and with due respect, HOCs seem to have paid no listening hears to the dissatisfaction of the members of the public to such illegal fees. For instance, all applications are now required to be paid for including applications made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011-herein after referred to as the FOIA, in reliance to the decisions of the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s decision in the case of THE REGISTERED TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NIGERIA V JOHN ASUQUO ETIM (2017) 13 NWLR (PART 1581) 1 SC. The writer of this paper had written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Headquarters, who is the HOC of all federal high courts in Nigeria, and the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory Headquarters as the HOC of all High Courts in the Federal capital Territory, Abuja, on this position on applications to courts in relation to the decision of the Supreme Court’s decision (supra). In his humble submissions, the writer of this paper had submitted that the decision of the Supreme Court has been wrongly misconstrued and misapplied as to the requirements of payments for such applications whereas, no service has been rendered as at the time of payment for such applications and that the rules of the court have no provisions for such fees and assuming without conceding that the rules have such provisions, they would have been in violation with  the provisions of a statute which is the FOIA in section 8, which stipulates mandatorily, what fees to be paid for as follows ‘Fees shall be limited to standard charges for document duplication and Fees transcription where necessary’. The writer of this paper in fact, attached his letters to the Chief Judges respectively, with a photocopy of the decision of the Supreme Court under discourse. It is noteworthy that such applications are only received in the federal high court upon payment of the sum of one hundred naira only (N100.00) while in the Abuja High Court, it is the sum of one thousand naira only (N1,000.00) without any legal basis! I humbly submit! The writer of this paper humbly observed at paragraph 6 of his letters as follows: ‘My Lord, the Supreme Court at page 39-40, paragraphs E-A, I.T. Muhammad, J.S.C., while noting some errors on the said letter of adjournment which was one of the cruxes of the appeal, held thus ‘It is to be noted that : i. this letter (document) does not bear the semblance of an official communication between the learned counsel and the trial court official. Nothing to indicate that the letter was officially filed at the court’s registry: no stamp; no date; no signature and name of the receptionist, no time of filing the letter in the registry and no assessment in any form by the registry; … (Underlining is mine for emphasis). My Lord, the Supreme Court further held at page 41, paragraph E-B which I humbly submit as the reason for the Supreme Court to have held that the application ought to have been filed, thus ‘It is important to point out as well, that if a document is meant for the court to take note and act thereon, rules of court have made provisions for formal filing of such a document or documents with the registry of the court, for which a nominal fee is payable upon assessment by the registry staff, who authenticate the filing of that document and proceed to file same for the court’s attention. It is only by formal filing when the court becomes seised of the document. All other ways or methods such as writing letters or petitions informing the Chief Judge/Chief Justice/Head of Court and or Chief Registrar (including his subordinate registrars) are purely administrative and have no force of law. (Underlining is mine for emphasis). Thus, the said letter written by the Respondent to the registrar of the trial court was purely administrative, and worse still, it was never brought to the attention of the learned trial judge for consideration. To cap it all, Order 54 rule 6 of the Cross Rivers State High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules (supra), provides as follows: ‘A document shall not be filed unless it has indorsed on it the name and number of the cause, the date of filing) and whether filed by plaintiff or defendant, and on being filed such indorsement shall be initialed by the Registrar’.  The letter claimed by the respondent to be placed with the registrar of the trial court, was never subjected to such criteria as provided by the Civil Procedure Rules (cited above). I have all reasons to believe therefore, that the said letter cannot be regarded as a legal document. Even if it is placed before the learned trial Judge, the best the learned trial Judge could do was to discountenance it’.  In conclusion on those letters, the writer of this paper concluded and recommended as follows : My Lord, from the above provisions of the Laws, the Constitution, the Rules of this Court and the decision of the Supreme Court (supra), I hereby most humbly submit as follows that:

  1. the decision of the Supreme Court did not decide to the effect that applications for administrative purposes are to be filed and paid for;
  2. the Rules of this Court do not provide that applications for administrative purposes are to be filed and paid for;
  • the provisions of the FOIA have exempted applications to access information from being filed and paid for and is only limited to standard charges for document duplication and Fees transcription where necessary;
  1. The notion and or belief as well as the act of refusal by the Court’s registry and the Courts unless and until the said application is filed and paid for even where such application is administrative in nature or for administrative purposes relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in the above referenced case, is misconstrued and perverse;
  2. Applications for hearing date, applications for hearing notice to be issued addressed to the Court’s registrar, applications for: Certified True Copies of Judgment/Ruling, records of proceedings, enrolled Order of Court, etc. are administrative in nature and need not be filed and paid for by the applicant.
RECOMMENDATIONS: My Lord, from the above arguments and submissions made above, it is my humble recommendation that there is need for Your Lordship to utilize Your Lordship’s power conferred by High Court of the Federal Capital Territory-Abuja, by setting up a Committee to inquire into the true decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the above referenced case and the Rules of this Court and that Your Lordship should issue a Practice Direction/Directive, of which the public would be given notice upon issuance, to clarify explicitly, that applications for administrative purposes are not meant to be filed and or paid for, it only requires acknowledgement by the receiving administrative person of the court, whether such administrative person is the registry of any of the courts or the main registry of this Honourable Court. My Lord should also define what administrative applications or applications that are administrative in nature are and such Practice Direction/Directive should be mandated to be complied with by all the Courts under the control of this Honourable Court and all administrative officers of the court and the court’s registry (ies). The Registry of each of the Court’s Judicial Division should be mandated to always acknowledge any application made to it by an applicant and not to just receive same without acknowledgement. Finally My Lord, it is my humble belief that there is need for urgent necessary steps to be taken by Your Lordship considering this my legal opinion contained in this letter for the purpose of protecting the image and integrity of this Honourable Court especially, before the patronizing public. Also, I humbly request an official correspondence sent to me officially from Your Lordship or the Court either assenting or dissenting with my arguments and submissions made in this letter. It is worthy of note that these letters were respectively officially acknowledged. It is hoped that the HOCs would consider the recommendations with open hearts and make amendments, but until then, the illegal charges have not been reverted, which shows that almost every institution awaits an opportunity to hammer its financial inadequacies on members of the public who are vulnerable and this is an act of corruption which is very unacceptable, with due respect! Furthermore, the remita internet transaction has been one of those challenges faced by litigants and or lawyers in filing processes, even at the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, for instance, in Abuja, one would observe some persons standing outside and queuing up in order to locate service of remita in order to transact within time. This is a cause for alarm! Not only is remita the problem, indeed, some of our courts in Nigeria, have mobile network problems to such extent that one would be tempted to climb a tree in the court’s premises or go to the top of the court’s roof all in search for network. But why has this gone this bad and nothing has been done?! HOCs need to put their house in order and not only sit in the courts rather, they should engage all appropriate authorities and institutions in order to render satisfactory services to the public, else, it would only prove in the eyes of the public, with due respect, that HOCs are very archaic in reasoning and are not acting in the public interest. Furthermore, there should be effective monitoring of corrupt practices among all courts’ staff. The CCTV camera is humbly suggested to be affixed at all process units, registries and the court rooms. Many of the times, some of these corrupt practices might even take place in the open court but there is the doubt as to whether any person is monitoring the activities in some of these courts?! So, it is very important to pay attention to this fact heedlessly. Also, some of the courts too have been observed that they are without a conducive ventilation and or without Air conditioner or the air conditioners and or the fans are faulty. This should be improved upon. Also, and most importantly, it is humbly recommended that there should be a special court for the hearing of enforcement of fundamental rights pursuant to section 46(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (amended) and Order II Rule 1 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009. The writer of this paper had written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria pursuant to the above laws, recommending the creation of a special panel court to always hear fundamental rights enforcement cases in Nigeria, among other recommendations. It is hoped that the CJN being the authority to whom such power has been delegated, would act accordingly in this dispensation of the legal year and it is hoped that all HOCs too would use their discretion administratively, to establish this special panel courts including on vacation period. This is necessary because fundamental rights enforcement matters are urgent in nature regardless of the cause of action. Therefore, it is further submitted that all fundamental rights cases should be heard at all times including vacation periods. Finally, it is hoped that all these recommendations with the sincerity of mind of the writer of this paper if put into action would aid in the improvement and development of the court’s system and the legal profession as a whole for the betterment of Nigeria. The writer of this paper further congratulates all HOCs on the legal year celebration in advance! God bless the Nigerian citizens! God bless the HOCs! God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria! E-mail: hameed_ajibola@yahoo.com  ]]>

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