Akanbi seeks total overhaul of justice system

Akanbi who is a son of the pioneer Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), also said the reform would bring about effective case management system which prescribes time-limit for all cases.He was delivering the 152nd inaugural lecture of the university titled, “Contending without Being Contentious: Arbitration, Arbitrators and Arbitrability”.He […]

Akanbi who is a son of the pioneer Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), also said the reform would bring about effective case management system which prescribes time-limit for all cases.
He was delivering the 152nd inaugural lecture of the university titled, “Contending without Being Contentious: Arbitration, Arbitrators and Arbitrability”.
He said, “For arbitration to be effective, the courts still have a fundamental role to play. However the delay in case resolution in the Nigerian courts causes considerable waste of time and resources of the parties.
“There is therefore an urgent need to reform the civil justice system in Nigeria. The court procedures should be streamlined to facilitate early resolution of cases.”
The law professor also recommended that non-lawyers who specialise in other professional disciplines should be encouraged to take part in arbitration practices in Nigeria. He noted that they would do better than some trained lawyers and retired judges without or with no relevant training.
Akanbi who is with the Department of Business Law of the university, said, “unlike judges, arbitrators need not to be qualified lawyers.”
He also said: “In the same vein, it must also be pointed out that lawyers acting as counsel in arbitration tend to direct the proceedings like litigation .The counsel in arbitration proceedings see the arbitrator as a judge and the other party as an opponent and as a result, they tend to question opposing witnesses in as
confrontational a manner as they would in the courts they are accustomed to.
“It is unfortunate that these practitioners, whether for tactical purposes, inexperience or for other reasons, seek to raise pedantic procedural points that are inimical to efficient dispute resolution,” he averred.