By Adebisi OnanugaThe Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba has said that there is no room for corrupt practices in the state judiciary under his leadership.Alogba vowed that his administration would not shield corrupt from officials of the Judiciary.He spoke during a courtesy call on him by the Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria.His administration, the CJ emphasised, was committed to effective and efficient justice delivery.Justice Alogba implored legal officers in the Judiciary to be disciplined and also assured them of the support required in discharging their duties.He added that as part of his commitment to the promotion of transparency and discouragement of unethical conducts, members of staff have been instructed to either write to the Chief Judge directly or through the Chief Registrar about their needs.Justice Alogba also emphasised that the Lagos State Judiciary does not discriminate with respect to religion as long as it conforms with the rule of law, just as he advised the association to be professional and understanding in all their engagements.The associations chairman Mr Misbau Ajibola Kaka expressed appreciation to the CJ for receiving them despite his busy schedule. He also commiserated with him over the EndSARS crisis that led to the burning and vandalisation of Judiciary assets.He appealed to the Chief Judge to ensure that matters filed in court are urgently assigned and when the court will not be sitting, the affected parties should be communicated to promptly.The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba has said that the Judiciary is in the process of embracing a more digitised and ICT-compliant process in all its legal engagements.The Chief Judge made this disclosure when he received the executive of the Epe branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA),during a courtesy visit to his office at the Ikeja High Court.Justice Alogba stated that the EndSARS protest and the pandemic has brought about major setbacks for Justice dispensation in the State.The incident, according to him, had also paved way for the Judiciary to pursue more ICT programmes.The EndSARS incident has brought us to a more appreciative position on what we should do about digitising our court proceedings and other necessary information that is why we are vigorously pursuing an ICT programme in the judiciary.We are, however, grateful to the state government for all its assistance so far in ensuring that we function well at work as best as we can for now.He stated that about 3,000 files had been recovered after the massive damage by hoodlums at the Lagos High Court, Igbosere during the EnsSARS protest.The State Judiciary, he added, has been uploading cases on the Judiciary Information System (JIS) which serves as the ICT unit since 2013 and this helped in recovering some of the case files that were affected when the court was vandalised.The Chief Judge also said he had begun equipping the judiciarys libraries with the aim of making research easier for legal officers and other staff.We have also bought some other substantive law and practice books authored by different persons and I have made it a policy to buy for the headquarters and all the branch libraries.We can never be up to standard and competitive if we dont have books, You will all see a lot of improvement in our libraries this year, he stated.The branchs chairman, Prince Ademola Koko, thanked the CJ for honouring their invitation despite the challenges following the damage to the judiciarys infrastructure. He also sympathised with Alogba over the incident.Those on Kokos entourage included Funmi Adeogun, the Vice Chairman; Jimoh Saliu, Secretary; Prince Sunday Abimbola, former Chairman, among other executive members.They commended the CJ for handling the situation well, otherwise the sector would have been worse affected.Koko pleaded with Justice Alogbato assist in ensuring that cases are assigned on time to judges in Epe by the Admin Judge.He canvassed for more Judges and other amenities that will make work easier for Judges, staff and lawyers in Epe, among other requests.
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