Ghanaian Judges to Train in Lagos

Judges in the Lagos State Judiciary are organising a training programme for their Ghanaian counterparts on the recently launched "Multi Door Court House" project.

The project, which is an initiative of the Lagos State Judiciary, is a reconciliation and alternative dispute resolution body aimed at enhancing access to justice in the country.

The President of Ghana's Court of Appeal, Justice Stephen Alan Brobbey, who disclosed this in Lagos, said he got to know about the project while in the United States of America for a conference.

The visiting Justice Brobbey during a courtesy call on the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ibitola Adebisi Sotuminu, yesterday, said he became attracted to the project because of its uniqueness as its the first of its kind in Africa.

He said he wanted all the judges in Ghana to understudy the project and know the workings of the concept since he plans to carry out the same project in Ghana.

He said the historical antecedents of both countries are interwoven because they share the same colonial experience, therefore "what goes on in Nigeria, goes on in Ghana".

Brobbey lamented the palous state of the judiciary in most of African countries, saying that successive African leaders have done little or nothing to improve the system.

He said a situation where judges record cases in long hands instead of computerised recorder has left little to be desired in the administration of justice.

He, however, said part of the achievements recorded in Ghana is the introduction of "fast track court" whereby cases are not allowed to stay for more than six months before judgment is delivered through the aid of computers; most of them are not allowed to go to courts but handled through mediation.

Justice Sotuminu while welcoming the Ghanaian counterparts said the Lagos State Judiciary has risen in leaps and bounds occasioning the categorisation of cases into five divisions to encourage better case-flow management, specialisation, quick dispensation of justice, efficiency and court decongestion.

Sotuminu stated that it was out of the desire to ensure good neighbourliness as well as to decongest the courts that the state judiciary introduced the multi-door court house project which she said is an alternative dispute resolution centre that is litigation-free albeit court-connected.