Court Awards N5m Against Applicant Seeking To Challenge Review Of Lagos State High Court Rules

The Chief Judge of Lagos State and the Chief Registrar of Lagos
State stood victorious in a case instituted against them with
respect to the New Lagos State High Court (Civil Procedure)
Rules.

The Applicant by way of an Originating Summons has approached
the High Court presided by Justice Oyefeso, challenging the review
of the High Court Rules, arguing same to be oppressive as it will
serve to deny the claimant, his clients, and members of the
litigation public easy access to the High Court of Lagos State and
is as such improper, unlawful, unconstitutional, and null and
void.

Counsel for the applicant, Mr. Dare in arguing an interlocutory
application filed in the suit, as well as the originating processes
filed, urged the court to grant his prayers.

The Court, however, agreed with the defendants’ counsel, Chief
Wale Taiwo, SAN, and dismissed the suit for being frivolous.

In addition to the dismissal, Justice Oyefeso awarded cost of N5
million against the applicant for lacking merit.

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ICPC Directs Federal Agencies to Reform their
Systems

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, in
accordance with the Commission’s powers under S. 6(b) to direct and
supervise Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) instructed
agencies of the Federal Government to implement reforms indicated
by the Commission.

Prof Owasanoye was speaking during the presentation of the
reports of system study exercises conducted on the organisations by
the Commission. Leveraging on Section 6 (b,c and d) of the Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, which mandates it to
examine the systems and processes of government establishments for
corruption-prone procedures and to direct reforms, the Commission
had recently conducted system studies and reviews of Federal Civil
Service Commission (FCSC); Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS);
Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA); Rural
Electrification Agency (REA); and National Pensions Commission
(NPC).

During the exercise ICPC operatives painstakingly scrutinized
the Structure, Systems and Processes, Culture and Stakeholder
Perception of the stated agencies, and at the conclusion of which
the Commission presented the reports of its findings to the top
managements of the organisations during scheduled sessions at its
headquarters in Abuja recently.

The reports on the agencies revealed some faults and lapses in
their systems and processes among which include: capacity gaps in
accounting staff; infractions in the operation of the public
procurement policy, Federal Character Principle and Fiscal
Responsibility Act 2007. Other flaws had to do with the
legislations setting up the agencies, operational environments,
personnel recruitment and staffing issues.

The ICPC Chairman drew attention to the mandate of the
Commission which combines enforcement, system study and review, and
citizen engagement as the necessary three-pronged approach to
combating corruption.

He also underscored the imperative of System Study and Review as
an effective corruption prevention strategy in the public service,
adding that a review exercise on a particular agency could be
triggered by an investigation, petition, request from the
government, the agency itself or a whistleblower report. He
therefore directed that the managements of the organisations
implement the quick-fixes prescribed within three months, while the
long-term issues, especially statute-related ones, were being
addressed.

Prof Owasanoye revealed that the Commission may embark on
further system studies of the organisations at the expiration of
the deadline to monitor compliance, and that its enforcement powers
would be used on officials found to have committed infractions or
ignored its directives to diminish corruption.

The reports were favourably received by the managements of the
organisations, and they generally indicated their willingness to
cooperate with the Commission.

The Comptroller-General of NIS, Muhammed Babandede, commended
ICPC for the review exercise, stating that scrutiny by an external
body always provided an opportunity for improvement. He gave the
service’s commitment to effecting the recommendations of the report
while also outlining many reforms introduced in NIS under his
administration to stem corruption.

The Acting Director-General of PENCOM, Mrs Aisha Dahiru Umar,
expressed her gratitude to ICPC for carrying out the exercise. She
said the report would serve as a useful guide for her commission
for improved processes, noting that since the system study and
review was conducted, many remedial actions had already been taken
to correct the defects identified.
In his own response, NEPZA Acting Managing Director, Engr. Terhembe
Nongo, noted that the system study was a great opportunity for the
agency to prime itself to achieve its mandate. He acknowledged that
the findings of the report were “flawless”, and promised to ensure
that all its recommendations were adhered to.

On his part, the Executive Director (Technical Services) of REA,
Mohammed Wasaram, who represented the Managing Director, Mrs.
Damilola Ogunbiyi, said that the review had afforded his agency the
platform to assess itself as they had received a copy of the draft
report earlier, and had noted the inadequacies indicated
therein.

The representative of the Chairman, FCSC, Bello M. Babura, a
Commissioner, promised to provide ICPC with feedback on his
commission’s compliance, noting that its Board was new in the
saddle but was committed to working with ICPC to reduce corruption
in order to improve processes and service delivery.

Signed: Mrs Rasheedat A. Okoduwa, mni
Spokesperson for the Commission