Onoja SAN seeks Constitutional amendment for Magistrates’ and Upper Area Courts to enforce fundamental rights

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Ogwu James Onoja has called for the amendment of 1999 Constitution to give Magistrates’ and Upper Area Courts powers to enforce fundamental rights.

Onoja who was Grand Honoree at the just concluded 34th Annual Law Dinner of the Faculty of Law, Lagos State University (LASU) posited that since these courts are nearer to the grassroots and accessible to majority of Nigerians as they are situated in communities, it will be fair and just to expand their scope to accommodate fundamental rights matters.

In his paper titled: Judicial Protection of Human Rights in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges, Chief Onoja pointed out that: “Violation of fundamental rights is a daily occurrence in every community in Nigeria, in villages and organisations far away from the prying eyes of the law and institutions saddled with the responsibility to bring violators to account. The court with jurisdiction to handle rights violation is the Federal or State high Courts. These courts are normally situated in cities and urban areas far from the major theatres of right violations.”

He further entreated: “It is my humble suggestion that section 46(1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution be amended to give the Magistrate and Upper Area Courts the vires to enforce fundamental rights. These lower courts now manned by Legal Practitioners, are nearer to the grassroots and accessible to the majority of Nigerians as they are situated in communities.

“There is a compelling urgency to amend laws and rules of judicial engagements in Nigeria to allow the indigents who are ordinarily the victims of right violation to access the courts.”

The Senior Advocate who further advocated for increased access to justice at all levels of the society said: “This can be in the form of reduced filing fees and charges for instituting human rights cases and increased availability of probono services by Legal Aid Council and offices of Public Defenders across the country.”

Likewise he suggested “that policy and law makers should consider laws that will allow the use of arbitration and mediation, with all their benefits, to resolve human rights cases especially in the determination of quantum of damages payable and where there is no issue of liberty and threat to life.”

This he stressed is because: “Most of the High and Appellate Courts in Nigeria have included Arbitral Proceedings and Mediation Centers in their Rules and it is just and expedient to take advantage of these provisions and institutions to address human rights cases. This is important because of the delayed trials and lengthy period of trials and appeals from High Court to Supreme Court where in some instances, the victim never live to take benefits of compensation awarded by courts.

“It is my opinion that Lawyers and litigants take the enormous opportunity presented by Sections 6(1)(e) and 22(1)and(2) of the National Human Rights Commission (Amendment) Act, 2010 to expediently bring right violators to account without the frustration of delayed court proceedings and technicalities.

“As I end this paper, I admonish Magistrates and Judges of the Nigerian Judiciary to utilize every chance they get to protect the fundamental human rights of Nigerian citizens and I do hope these words of the great jurist – Justice Thurgood Marshall will guide and encourage them: ‘You do what you think is right and let the law catch up.’ ”