The Honourable
Attorney-General of the
The Honourable
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (HAGF)
Abubakar Malami, SAN has stated that over billions of naira have
been saved for the Federal Government over cases won in different
courts both National and International.
He made the statement
during his Ministerial Performance Report from May 2019 to July
2020 and Workshop organised specifically for the Judiciary
Correspondents, in Abuja on Tuesday July 28th, 2020.
While enumerating on
his scorecard, Malami said in the Civil Litigation department, the
percentage of the number of civil cases handled, are as follows;
60% were handled on human right matters, they have succeeded in
saving Federal Government Ten (10) Billion Naira cost levelling on
the claim arriving from those fundamental human right cases that
were litigated in the court. About 25% of the cases were on
contract and he is happy to report that they have equally succeeded
in saving FG of about 3.5-billion-naira cost relating to claims
associated with the contract.
Malami explained that
15% of the cases handled were related to land. He said 90 of the
cases are in the court of Appeal and Supreme Court; 100 of the
cases handled by the National Industrial Court; 110 were in States
High Court and the FCT; and 400 cases were litigated at the Federal
High Court.
Furthermore, he said
that, for cases litigated at the Federal High Court which were 50
in number relating to component thereof, the Ministry saved the
Federal Government One billion seven-hundred and sixty-five million
and fifteen thousand naira(N1,765,015,000) relating to the cases
they were handled before the Federal High Court.
‘’On the case that
were litigated before the ECOWAS Court, the Ministry has succeeded
in saving for the government One Hundred and fifty million naira
(N150,000,000) and Eight hundred million dollars
($800,000,000) as it relates to the cases handled at State High
Court and amongst others. He implored the Federal Executive Council
to consider the need for deliberate resources allocation to the
justice sector to facilitate effective service delivery.
The HAGF called on
Federal Executive Council (FEC) to kindly encourage effective and
efficient collaboration among institutions in the justice sector,
particularly institutions involved in Criminal Justice
Administration (ACJA)
He asked the FEC to
further support the deployment of technology in the administration
of justice to facilitate on affiliate and effective justice
service-delivery.
He called on them to
encourage governments at all levels to demonstrate the political
will to implement the various justice sector reform legislation and
regulations. He added that this in no doubt will promote justice
delivery and the rule of law in the country.
Earlier, the
Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary Federal
Ministry of Justice (FMOJ) Dayo Apata, SAN in his welcome address,
noted the growing interest by the general public in what the
judiciary sector does, particularly in criminal cases, election
litigations, fight against corruption, among others underscores the
importance of the media in creating the much-needed awareness that
helped in shaping public opinion and perception in that
direction.
Apata further said
that the media coverage of the judiciary could demonstrate that
justice is served, and criminals are punished. He added that in as
much as the media may expose wrong doings in many systems,
effective coverage of the justice sector also help prevent
injustices by shining spotlight on the actions of the judges,
lawyers and other participants in the justice system.
“Despite the
importance of the coverage, complain abounds that news
organizations send journalists out to do stories with little
training about the complexities of the justice system and
intricacies of the complex operations in a society with multiple
backgrounds and perceptions” he observed.
He noted that members
of the public also complain about sensationalistic reporting,
inaccurate presentation of facts or mutilation of context while
covering the judiciary sector adding that there are also issues of
contempt of court, media trails among others.
He further explained
that “it is in the light of the above that the ministry saw the
need for capacity building workshops to strengthen the skills of
the journalists with a view of achieving efficient and effective
coverage of the justice sector”.
Apata pointed that the
benefits of such capacity building engagement are
multi-dimensional; for the journalists, media organizations,
justice sector and the general public.
The Special Assistant
on Media to the HAGF, Dr Umar Gwandu while training the judiciary
correspondents enumerated the journalistic ethics, where he
mentioned the implication of fake news through dis-information,
mis-information and mal-information which can set the country on
fire if not well handled.
Gwandu encouraged the
journalists to be sure of facts and figures in their reportage.
In her vote of thanks,
the Deputy-Director Press and Public Relations of the ministry,
Modupe Ogundoro thanked everybody for honouring the invitation
despite their tight schedule.
She also emphasised
that the HAGF’s office is always available to attend to journalists
at any point in time.
Ogochukwu
Igboamalu