Activists seek abolition of Sheriff and Civil Process Act 2004

By Adebisi Onanuga

A rights group, Access to Justice (A2J), has urged the Federal Government to abolish the Sheriff and Civil Process Act 2004.

The law, A2J argued, is the biggest obstacle to Judiciary’s ability to redress violations of human rights and uphold of the rule of law in Nigeria.

In a statement signed by the Convener, Joseph Otteh, and Project Director, ‘Deji Ajare, A2J stated that abolishing the Act or Section 84 of it will help the courts to effectively play the roles assigned to them under the Constitution, which is to promote good governance and defend the rule of law.

The group noted that for hundreds of thousands of Nigerians, redressing the violations of fundamental rights is a fruitless exercise or an unpromising gamble adding that “this is because where aggrieved persons or families surmount all the odds inherent in prosecuting a claim through the court, they will routinely face a virtually insurmountable brick-wall – the lack of effective redress; the ultimate inability to access any remedy the court has awarded them.

“One major reason why most efforts to hold public institutions, particularly law enforcement and security agencies accountable often draw blank is because of limitations placed on the power of courts of law to enforce their judgments by the Sheriff and Civil Process Act (“SCPA”) 2004.

“Section 84 of the SCPA requires that a successful litigant must first seek and obtain the consent of the Attorney-General of the Federation (or of a State, if a State account is implicated), before an award of a monetary sum can be obtained from the accounts of the (Federal/State) government or any of their agencies.

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“When courts adjudicate claims asserting the violation of constitutional rights and award monetary reliefs against governmental institutions or agencies, it is expected that these institutions will abide by the judgments and willingly pay up. Not so for a lot of agencies! “Often, judgment creditors have to subsequently apply to court for an order garnisheeing funds from the accounts of any adjudged debtor institution or agency to meet the judgment award.

“However, citing and using this legislation, public institutions (including law enforcement and security agencies) have resisted efforts to garnishee funds in their accounts on the basis of the SCPA.

“The Sheriff and Civil Process Act 2004, therefore, is arguably the greatest obstacle to the enforcement of human rights in Nigeria because it restricts the ability of Nigerian courts to protect human rights, enforce the rule of law, and check impunity on the part of security and law enforcement agencies”, A2J stated.

The group argued that some courts have ruled that litigants can indeed recover their monies from accounts of debtor public institutions in commercial banks.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) is presumptively aware of these deceptive banking tactics, yet turns the blind eye.

“In frustration, many litigants have sought to obtain judgment debt sums from source, i.e. through the CBN. Unfortunately, the CBN has itself obstructed and frustrated those efforts too, and, in case after case,  has challenged efforts to hold public institutions accountable and uphold the rule of law by fighting to the hilt, endeavours to enforce monetary judgments against abusers through the Bank”, the group said.

A2J  urged the CBN  Governor to reconsider the Bank’s longstanding history of support to perpetrators of human rights abuses, and the role it has played over the years in shielding abusers from justice and accountability.

It urged the Governor to investigate “the abuse of the banking system by public institutions through deceptive banking identity tactics, in order to undermine or resist judicial due process, and forestall the enforcement of judicial judgments; alongside this, to investigate the role of the Central Bank of Nigeria in sustaining these deceptive tactics.”