Lagos translates court practice direction into indigenous languages

To encourage inclusiveness and help illiterate litigants to get
access to justice, the Lagos State Small Claims Court practice
direction has been translated into five indigenous languages –
Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Egun and Pidgin English.

The state Chief Judge, Justice Opeyemi Oke, at the public
presentation of the indigenous practice direction noted that it was
designed to encourage self-representation by litigants so as to
reduce expense and delay processes by lawyers.

According to the CJ, a handbook which explained each step of the
process and provided answers to every conceivable question was
provided alongside the practice direction.

She said, “In fulfilment of one of my many goals and aspirations
for my tenure as the Chief Judge of Lagos State, the Small Claims
Court was established with 15 magistrates courts spread across the
seven magisterial districts. The Small Claims Court had in the past
one year operated as the fast- track commercial division of the
Magistrate Court in Lagos State.

“The Small Claims Court simplified procedure was designed to
encourage self-representation by litigants thus reducing expense
and delay which may be occasioned by the filing of complex
pleadings and processes by lawyers.

“No doubt, the Small Claims Court in the past one year has
fulfilled its objective which is to provide easy access to an
informal, inexpensive and speedy resolution of simple debt recovery
disputes in the magistrates courts of claims, not exceeding
N5m.

“To further encourage inclusiveness and greater access to the
Small Claims Court by litigants that are not literate in English,
the practice direction and handbook have now been translated into
five local languages i.e. Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Egun and Pidgin
English by judges of the High Court of Lagos State, whose names
have been acknowledged in the different translations.

“This effort will further improve the performance recorded so
far, both in terms of the number of cases filed and duration
between filing and delivering judgment, since the litigants would
more likely understand the process and procedure be greatly
encouraged and more confident to represent themselves.”

The Chief Judge further noted that the court had been able to
deliver 530 judgments out of 850 cases filed by litigants within
the last 10 months of its sittings in the seven magisterial
districts of the state.

The chairman of the committee in charge of the translation of
the practice direction, Justice Yetunde Adesanya, noted that the
new development would encourage more litigants to bring their
commercial cases to court.

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