Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

The slow pace of judicial process in the country has been said to be discouraging foreign investors from coming into Nigeria, thereby slowing down the country’s much needed economic growth.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and President of Kwara Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KWACCIMA), Oluronke Adeyemi, stated this while fielding questions from journalists over the weekend in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

According to her, the slow pace of the judicial process, which she described as a major problem, is stunting the growth of the economy as it discourages foreign investors from coming into Nigeria due to lack of trust in the country’s judiciary.

She said: “The major problem which is affecting our economy much more than we care to admit, is the slow pace of the judicial process, as cases move very slowly and this is affecting economic development, because in every commercial activity there will always be a dispute, there will be something that will happen that somebody is not happy about.

“When they know that your judicial process is very slow, big businesses from other parts of the world will be very resistant to come, because they know that if there is any breach of contract and then you go to court, they’ll be there for several years,so they wouldn’t want to come.”

While commending the efforts of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, to transform the Judiciary and making judicial process faster and easier, she urged businesses to explore the option of arbitration in situations of business conflicts.

She said: “We have developed arbitration in Nigeria process so that you don’t need to take matters to court, when you are entering into a business agreement with somebody, you can insert arbitration clause whereby if any party is aggrieved or displeased with the other, we will not go to court until we have done arbitration.

“The arbitration will be supervised and sometimes you can nominate who will be your arbitrator and they will listen to both of you and they will give a fair judgment that both of you would most likely agree with.

“Once they give that judgment, they take that judgment to the court and register it so that it will be as if it was the court that gave the judgment. Meanwhile, the arbitration may take just three days, instead of being in court for several years.”

Adeyemi also acknowledged the efforts of some states to create special commercial courts where disputes arising from commercial transactions can be taken so that they will not be subsumed in criminal cases or civil liability cases.

“A lot of states, including Kwara, have taken a new step of creating commercial courts where disputes arising from commercial transactions can be taken to so that they will not be subsumed in criminal cases or civil liability cases and it will make it faster so that you are not locked in court.

“I’m glad to announce that Kwara State has started this as the Chief Judge has approved the establishment of the small claims court, that is, if the commercial dispute is about an amount that is less than 10 million Naira, there is now a special court where such cases will be heard.

“The State judiciary is still working on a high court of the same idea, that is, if the amount involved is over 10 million Naira, then it will go to the high court, so we are still hoping that very soon it will come into reality, ” Adeyemi said.

The President of KWACCIMA advised that the responsibility of administrating mining and exploration of natural resources should be taken out of the Exclusive Legislative list and given to the state governments for better monitoring and maximizing the benefits for Nigerians.

“I firmly believe that it would have been easier and better for states to be in control of their mineral resources. They are the ones who are there. We cannot have mineral resources in Kwara and it is people from Abuja that are controlling their mining and exploration.

“Not only for financial reasons, but also for safety reasons, people can’t just go to Abuja to get a permit and come into the states to mine without the state having little or no say in such situations.

“The people at the federal offices don’t come to see the environment and they don’t know the impact that those things will have on the environment of the communities but if the States are allowed to be in control of their own mining sites, it will be safer for our people.

“Look at the incidents of oil spillage that has affected many communities in the Niger Delta most of whom are fishing communities, the states can’t do anything to help since every action at the exploration sites are taken at the federal level.

“I totally support that mining should be taken out of the exclusive legislative list,they will be able to control it better and will be able to get better financial gains from the resources that God has deposited in their states, ” she said.

Adeyemi who is the first female President of Kwara Chamber of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture said preparation is in full gear as KWACCIMA is set to organise their 11th trade fair which will hold from 6th to 16th of December in Ilorin.

She promised, “we have secured the venue, we have finished our planning with the security agencies so that we will have tight security, just like the previous years, we are really prepared, and for the state government, as well as the local government, they are all prepared.”