The Chairman of Gokana Local Government, Hon. Confidence Deko, has said that magistrate and customary courts remodelled by his administration are to guarantee access to justice.
He spoke at the commissioning ceremony for the courts by the Chief Judge of Rivers State, Hon. Justice Simeon Amadi, on Friday at premises of the magistrate and customary courts building in council headquarters Kpor.
The council Chairman said: “The courthouse is one of the most significant pointer and determinant of a people’s level of civilization. In contemporary time, it is bad omen to live in a place where access to justice cannot be guaranteed”.
He further said: “The rule of law which we all profess envisage the availability and accessibility of civilized means of resolving dispute. This is not to say that we jettison or condemn the traditional ways of conflict resolution which our forefathers were highly noted for but to reiterate that the reality and the extent of modern-day life make the need for a suitable courtroom indispensable”.
He said the magistrate and customary courts building was in poor state at the time he became elected Chairman of the council.
He said when he visited the building he was shocked by the level of dilapidation caused by long period of use and improper maintenance culture saying that he soon embarked on the renovation and remodelling of the building after consultation.
A day before the building was commissioned, the Commanding Officer of the 29 Battalion of Nigerian Army, Bori Camp, was in the local government to commission quarters built for men of the Nigerian Army Joint Task Force (JTF) by the local administration.
Hon. Deko said building the quarters for Joint Task Force was informed by need to sustain peace in the local government and maintain zero tolerance for crime.
He said that he also provided other dividends of democracy for the people of the area.
The Chairman had asked the Chief Judge to recommend that a High Court Division be created in the local government area and for judges to be appointed among his people.
Commissioning the project, the Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Amadi thanked the Chairman for the project saying building of courts was for the judiciary and not local government.
He said the council was the first he was visiting as Chief Judge to commission a project.
The Chief Judge said the judiciary was grateful to him but had asked him to ensure there was security at the courts’ premises.
He said: “With what you have done now I also plead that one thing is to build, one thing is to secure because facilities will be put in here for use. If this place is not secured definitely hoodlums will cart away what you put in”.
He said the customary court would settle disputes arising from traditions of the people while the magistrate court would handle cases involving disobedience to the law and civil matters.
Goodwill messages were delivered at the event.
The member representing Gokana Constituency in State House of Assembly, Hon. Dumle Maol, described the day as historic with the presence of the Chief Judge in 30 years of existence of the local council and said that the Chairman had fulfilled his promise over the project.
Also to speak was the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Bori branch, who said that the Chairman loved the judiciary and wanted justice to be dispensed by the courts.
