RSG Promises Funding For Justice Odili Judicial Institute

The Rivers State Government has restated its unwavering commitment towards funding the Justice Mary Odili Judicial Institute for its optimum performance and to function effectively in line with its establishment.
The State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, stated this while delivering his goodwill message during the opening session of the three-day workshop organised by the state Judiciary for newly appointed Judges of the State High Court and the Customary Court of Appeal held at the institute’s Auditorium in Port Harcourt, recently.
Justice Mary Odili Judicial Institute was established by the state government through a legislation to train and retrain judges, magistrates and other judicial staff in the state.
The governor who was represented at the occasion by the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Zacchaeus Adangor, commended the management of the institute for living up to their mandate by organising the workshop, adding that the institute was established to train judicial officers.
Wike explained that the institute was not established to compete with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) but to compliment their role in ensuring that judicial officers are trained and retrained for effective performance.
“The institute is established by law, functions set out in Sections 6 and 7 to train and retrain judicial officers to perform their duties. It is not to compete with the NJI but to compliment their functions,” he stated.
Governor Wike used the opportunity to congratulate the newly appointed judges on their appointment, and urged them to pay rapt attention to the various lectures during the three-day exercise, adding that it is the only way to reciprocate state government’s huge support to the centre.
Also speaking, the State Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, described the workshop as a step in the right direction.
He said that the theme of the workshop: “Towards excellence in the dispensation of justice in Rivers State”, was apt in tandem with the innovations and programmes so far initiated and carried out by the state Judiciary for promotion of justice delivery in the state.
According to him, the centre was like the intellectual arm of the state Judiciary with the core mandate, among other functions, to conduct courses for all categories of judicial officers and their support staff, to expand and improve their overall knowledge and performance as well as organise annual conferences for judges, magistrates, chairman and members of the Customary Court of the state Judiciary.
“Expectedly, at the end of the workshop, your lordships’ orientation and overall conduct as judges will improve or change for the better, as your lordships will be exposed to the tenets and niceties of the code of conduct for judicial officers of the federation. Generally, the ultimate beneficiary will be the administration of justice by all and sundry in Rivers State”, he stated

By; Akujobi Amadi