Rivers Judiciary Nets N1.2bn In 12 Months, Disposes 19,864 Cases

The Rivers State Judiciary has said that it generated a total of N1,280,954,045 within one year.
The Chief Judge of the state, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, disclosed this while speaking during a special court session held to mark the beginning of the 2022/2023 legal year at the auditorium of the High Court Complex in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday.
Amadi while giving the breakdown of the summary of the revenue generated within the year under review,said the money comprises revenue generated by the high courts and Customary Court of Appeal in the state.
He averred that a total of N921.324.658.38 was revenue generated from filings and fines from high courts,while N107.670.788.4 was from the Customary Court of Appeal,adding that it represented a positive revenue increase of over N545million from the last legal year.
The revenue for last legal year stood at N376.159.368.38 for high courts and N42,470,038 for Customary Court of Appeal, respectively.
According to him,the increase was due to some stringent measures put in place by the management of the state Judiciary to stop diversion of revenue, affidavit rackeeting as well as apprehension and prosecution of offenders.
On the performance of judges, magistrates and chairmen and members of the Customary Court of Appeal and customary courts, Amadi disclosed that a total of 19,864 cases brought from 1/10/21 to 30/9/2022 were disposed of within the year under review while 36,839 were pending,25,077were cases filed while 31,169 were cases brought forward.
“These are cases from high courts, juvenile court, revenue court, sanitation, magistrate, customary courts, and Customary Court of Appeal.”
The chief judge opined that special court session afford the Judiciary and legal community to take self-examination and stock taking of its past activities with the view to plan for the future in the administration of justice for the state and nation at large.
Also speaking, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Zacheaus Adangor assured that the Ministry of Justice as an institutional sector in the Judiciary would continue to support in the dispensation of delivery of justice in the state, adding that since the introduction and enactment of the Criminal Justice Administration Law No 7,2015, with regards to plea bargain, the ministry, he said, has successfully prosecuted 19 cases.
“Also, since the introduction of sexual offenders’ book, names of 19 sexual offenders have been written and published in the register domiciled at the ministry for anyone to see. Out of the 639 criminal cases received,519 legal advice have been written; out of it, information have been filed on 116 cases”, he stated.
Members of Inner Bar and NBA delivered various goodwill addresses during the special court session.

By: Akujuobi Amadi