The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN), met with select journalists to address issues around rule of law, speed of justice, demolition of buildings, signing of death warrants, and how the judiciary is recovering from #ENDSARS destructions, ADEBISI ONANUGA was there
Justice sector reforms
here will be a summit before the end of January in which all legal practitioners, stakeholders, judges and the private sector will also be involved. We want to use the justice system, where we have effective and efficient administration of justice, to drive economic activities and to ensure that investments are not only protected but are enhanced to attract investments. We already have an investment climate in Lagos, but we can’t stop. We must continue to enhance what we have and improve on all areas that we have.
On why the justice sector is key
The justice sector transcends all other sectors of the government. Everything has to be done in accordance with the rule of law – the environment, physical planning – every sector has elements of law inside. It is only when you have a lawful society, where the government enforces the law and people comply that the state will be secured. We already have the commitment of Mr Governor in that regard that there is going to be enforcement of our laws. When there is enforcement, there will be voluntary compliance.
Need for reforms
We see the justice system as a catalyst for economic development. It is only when cases are resolved quickly in our courts that we can have economic development. I said in another forum that if we have cases in court, we should be looking at a maximum of 24 months, including three months required for judgment writing, for resolving all civil matters in the High Court of Lagos State. We have reviewed our civil procedure laws. We are going to refer all the laws for reform. Our Law Reform Commission is already working towards reforming the obsolete laws in the state and through the House of Assembly, we can get that done. A tenant who has not paid in the last six months to one year is in court for the next two to three, or five years, doing what? Those are the areas we want to try and work on so that the issue of landlord and tenants should not last more than six months in our courts. There must be room for this and we would also put a mechanism in place to ensure that appeals from such decisions would not be a clog in the owner getting his arrears of rent or getting possession.
Tackling trial delays
The idea of matters being in court for 10 or 20 years must stop. If money is involved, what is the value when you get it? That is what we are going to be looking into.
Some laws would have to be amended with the cooperation of the House of Assembly and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). NBA should attend public hearings. Lawyers should be part of the government.
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Why properties are demolished
The houses being demolished or pulled down were developed illegally. We also need to begin to enlighten and educate the people. Do you need anybody to tell you that you should not drive against the traffic? In this state, if you drive against traffic, part of the law is that you should go for a psychiatric examination. There must be voluntary compliance with the law. Before any building is brought down, there must be contravention notice served for six months. Somebody commenced the construction of a building at the foundation level. Officials were there asking for building approval. You have none. They served a contravention notice but you ignored it. Whoever gives a bribe has also committed an offence, both the giver and the taker. First floor, a notice was served; third floor, a stop order was pasted. The following day, you still see the red ink there but people continued with the construction. When the long arm of the law comes, we feel sympathy for the offender. I think we should educate and enlighten the public that if this place is for no development or you need approval before development, please obtain approval. If there are hiccups along the way, there are offices you can report to and it will be resolved. That is why it takes time before we act.
Title ownership
Approval of the building does not amount to title to land. The mere fact that you applied to build a house does not amount to title to land. Let’s assume some has an approval to build, but are you sure it was demolished by a state government agency? If it comes to the issue of building on wrong land, that is an issue of title and where do you go? You go to court. That is why the courts are set up so that you can claim damages. That is what that person should do. If someone has gone to build on another person’s land, the elementary principle of law is ‘Nemo dat quod non habet’. Whoever owns the land and holds title to the land has every little thing on the land, with the little exception that if it has mineral resources under the land, that is the exception because under the constitution and Nigeria law, it belongs to the Federal Government. Any other thing on the land, if he is the owner of the land, he has title or he has been adjudged owner of the land, then he can have the right to remove anything on that land if he does not want it. That is why you must find out properly what transpired. He may have approval but if it turns out somebody owns the land, he has built on another person’s land, whoever owns the land owns everything on it. He can decide to exercise rights either directly or through a government agency. Also, it is the Lagos State that has the right to approve any development for any structure on land. The power to control development on the land resides in the state.
Improving staff welfare
There is a need to improve the welfare, not only of prosecutors but also state counsel, because we meet the best in private practice. So, we must measure up to the standards of our colleagues in private practice.
Speeding up DPP advice
There is a synergy already being built between the Police and the office of the DPP to ensure case files come as fast as possible and you get the advice as quickly as possible too.
Challenges with E-Filing
While in private practice, I had my officials going to do E-Filing. They would leave in the morning and would not return until evening. What went wrong? It was either that there was no power, the generator was bad or it was being serviced. These are a few things that affect e-filing. Where we are going with e-filing is to ensure that a judge has access to the process that has been filed electronically. With that, we will carry fewer files. Our courts are full of them.
Without e-filing, some cases would have been lost during #EndSARS. But with it, they could retrieve them and the cases continued. We also have a problem with accommodation. The place is choked because of what happened to our courts during #EndSARS protests. But we’ve heard of the complaints and we are working seriously to address them.
Rebuilding the courts
We are looking at the May date for the first phase to be completed everything being equal. Before the end of the year, we are going to inspect how far they have gone. Some individuals and private enterprises have contributed to ensure the place is rebuilt. It was a heritage building that was brought down. So, we are trying to replicate the same thing that was brought down so that if somebody who was in Lagos 15 years ago goes to Igbosere, he won’t know that anything happened. But don’t forget possible funding constraints. If the government budgets N20 billion for example, in anticipation of N307 billion, and unfortunately only N15 billion comes in, it would affect any project you planned for. But all things being equal, we are looking at May by the grace of God.
Signing of death warrants
There is still a debate on whether we should remove the death penalty from our laws. Through the Prerogative of Mercy, it can be recommended to Mr Governor that if you are not going to sign a death warrant, there is an alternative – commute it to life imprisonment. Even if somebody is sentenced, the governor still has the right of pardon which he can exercise without necessarily saying ‘Go and kill him’.
