Small Claim Court Laudable, to Improve Nigeria’s Economy – Lagos CJ

The Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem O. Alogba, has said that the small claims court has the ripple effect of reducing the burden of the Magistrate Courts in the state through fast and speedy resolution as well as improving the economy of Lagos state and the country at large.

The CJ stated this while declaring open a two-day ongoing workshop organized by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

The event was attended by participants from all the different states’ judiciaries across the country.

In her keynote address Dr Jumoke Oduwole, a special adviser to the President while speaking on the ease of doing business in the country said that over 160 reforms have been implemented by PEBEC over the last six years targeted at improving Nigeria’s public service delivery across Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“These reforms have in no small measure impacted the life cycle of MSMEs in the country. These reforms cut across automation (Digitisation of the pre-incorporation process of the Company Registration Portal), Regulatory (Approval and release of insolvency Regulations pursuant to CAMA 2020), Legislative (passage of the CAMA 2020, Credit Reporting Act 2017, Secured Transactions Immovable Assets Act, 2017) and Judiciary (Establishment of Small Claims Courts in 7 States so far).

We also had an important external validation from the World Bank’s flagship Doing Business report where we moved up 39 places and were twice recognized as a top 10 reformer globally within a 3-year period; and the WEF competitiveness report. Subnational EODB – Cascading Business Climate,” Oduwole said.

The Small Claims Court which is the Fast Track Division of the Magistrate Court was established in Lagos State in April 2018 with fifteen (15) courts spread across seven (7) Magisterial Districts.

The monetary jurisdiction of the Court is N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira) for original actions and N10,000,000 (Ten Million Naira) for Counterclaims, which is the general monetary jurisdiction of Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State. Proceedings in the Court are to be conducted within a 60-day period, while the entire appellate process shall be conducted within 30 days.

The success of the small claims court in Lagos State, according to the CJ, has had a ripple effect, which includes decongesting the Magistrates Courts, fast & speedy resolution of small claims, and improving the economy of the State and the country at large.

It also positively impacted the global outlook of the nation and the World Bank’s ranking on the Ease of Doing business in Nigeria.

“I am happy to see that the Small Claims Courts Procedure is being embraced in the other states in Nigeria and I am also optimistic that the success recorded in Lagos State can be replicated in these other states.

“It is expected that Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in those states, which account for a greater percentage of businesses in Nigeria contribute to wealth creation and are crucial to Nigeria’s success in the global economy will benefit significantly from the effective operation of the Courts in all the states across the nation”, the CJ said.