The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, has called on all states of the federation to establish Small Claims Courts in their Judiciaries in a bid to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria and enhance the productivity of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Justice Alogba made this call at a peer to peer learning session for all state judiciaries, organised by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), also noted that businesses and litigants will benefit significantly from the effective operation of the courts.
The session, which was attended by Judges, Magistrates and other judicial workers, was a knowledge-sharing forum for all state judiciaries on the establishment and operationalization of Small Claims Courts in their various jurisdictions.
The event was one of the direct interventions of PEBEC at the sub-national level to ensure that MSMEs have quick and easy access to justice when commercial disputes arise.
In his goodwill message, Justice Alogba said that the objective of the Small Claims Court is to provide easy access to an informal, Inexpensive, and speedy resolution of simple debt recovery disputes in the Magistrates’ Courts.
The Chief Judge also pointed out that the court is designed to provide a judicial determination of disputes involving small amounts of money quickly and cheaply, with or without legal representation.
