OGUN State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Akingbolahan Adeniran has said that Governor Dapo Abiodun assented to no fewer than 25 bills passed by the State House of Assembly between January and June of this year.

Adeniran disclosed this while presenting a mid-year appraisal of the 2021 budget performance of the Ministry before the State House Committee on Justice, Ethics and Public Petitions, at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the State capital.

He said five Executive Orders establishing the State Safety Commission, Waste Management Authority, State Skills Funds, Lagos/Ogun Joint Development Commission and Framework for Responsible and Inclusive Land Intensive Agricultural Investment (FRILLIA), were also issued within the period under review.

According to Adeniran, the Public Prosecution Department of the Ministry of Justice set out strategies which resulted in turnaround time for issuance of legal advice from more than two years before to four weeks for legal advice and six weeks for filling of information papers towards aiding speedy justice dispensation.

Chairman House Committee on Justice, Ethics and Public Petitions, Hon. Solomon Osho directed Adeniran to avail the Assembly within a week, the details of all bills signed into law in the period under consideration, to enable lawmakers have an up-to-date knowledge on the status of the bills transmitted to the executive arms of government.

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In a related development, the Chief Registrar, Ogun State Judiciary, Mrs. Olufunke Odubanjo, while presenting the mid-year budget performance of the Judiciary, hinted that the state remained the first in the Southwest geo-graphical zone to achieve the effective running of four Multi-door Court Houses situated at Abeokuta, Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu and another newly commissioned in Ota.

Mrs Odubanjo stated that despite the JUSUN industrial action which slowed down the budget performance of the Judiciary, there was renovation of High Courts 2 and 3 at Sagamu, commissioning of High Court, Idi-Oke in Igbesa and renovation of High Court Library, Ilaro.

She added that N40.53m revenue was generated for government coffers in the period under review.

Meanwhile, Ogun State Customary Court of Appeal has called for release of funds by the state government to enable it rehabilitate its court buildings across the state’s three senatorial districts.

The court’s Chief Registrar, Mrs. Titilayo Bello spoke during a mid-year appraisal of the 2021 budget performance before the State House of Assembly Committee on Justice, Ethics and Public Petitions-led by Hon. Solomon Osho.

She disclosed that no fund was released for capital projects out of the approved N100 million for the financial year as of June this year, stressing the need to release funds for needed projects and re-roofing most of the customary courts across the state.

She also called for an increase in the court’s overhead expenditure of N183.6million to enable the court achieve its set objectives of dispensation of justice without any delay and in line with the provision of the law.

She emphasised that all the customary courts in the state were given a facelift, despite the paucity of funds, noting that the court has to put measures in place for the comfortability of the plaintiffs, defendants, co-defendants, staff and the entire judges.

“Indeed, we have achieved below average, from what has been available to Ogun State Customary Court of Appeal in terms facelifts. Despite the paucity of funds, the Customary Court of Appeal in the last six months has been able to bring justice closer to the people and all our customary courts across the state were given facelifts”, Bello said.