Chief Judge of Benue State Justice Aondover Kaka’an has deplored the dilapidated infrastructure of court rooms and staff quarters in the state. He said the development was hindering effective administration of justice in the state.
Aondover said many of the courtrooms had become uninhabitable with leaking roofs, broken windows and decayed furniture, while staff quarters have been taken over by rodents and reptiles.
All these, he said, was as result of lack of funds to refurbish and employ staff to work and live therein.
A statement issued by the media consultant to the Godwin Obla Foundation, Steve Anyebe and made available to newsmen quoted Justice Kaka’an to have spoken at the commissioning of a newly built BAR Centre and a renovated High Court Complex, in Otukpo, Benue State, by the Chief Godwin Obla Foundation.
He, however, noted that he was not, in any way, indicting successive administrations in the state as some of them “have made significant efforts in repositioning the judiciary.”
Specifically, the chief judge commended Samuel Ortom’s administration for having done well for the judiciary in terms of physical projects and manpower development.
He also hailed the Godwin Obla Foundation while urging other public spirited individuals to step forward and emulate the good gesture of Chief Godwin Obla, who’s a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and chairman of the foundation as the government alone cannot shoulder everything.
Justice Kaka’an also tasked the Benue State branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, to take the challenge and expedite action on the ongoing construction of the Bar Centre at the premises of the High Court Headquarters, Makurdi.
He said, “The selflessness exhibited by Chief Obla (SAN) is a scarce commodity in our country today, where people are more inclined to take from society than give back.
“He definitely had numerous personal needs yearning to be met, but chose to apply his resources to this project for the good of the society. He deserves a thunderous applause and eternal appreciation from us.
“Chief Obla’s noble deed challenges the rest of us to give back to the society that has nourished us and from which we have taken so much.
“His action re-echoes the words of a former American President, John F. Kennedy, who famously told his countrymen to ask not what the country could do for them, but what they could do for the country.
“Our attitude of waiting for the government to do everything is inimical to progress, especially as the reality of dwindling public revenues stares us in the face.
“It is my hope that the NBA Makurdi Branch will take up this challenge and expedite action on the ongoing construction of a Bar Center at the premises of the High Court headquarters Makurdi.
“The Benue State Judiciary is the heavy yoke of a dilapidated infrastructure that is hindering the effective administration of justice. Many of our courtrooms have become uninhabitable with leaking roofs, broken windows and decayed furniture, while our staff quarters have been taken over by rodents and reptiles due to lack of funds to refurbish them and employ staff to work and live therein.
“This is not in any way an indictment of successive administrations in the state, some of which have made significant efforts in repositioning the judiciary.”
Earlier, the chairman and chief executive of the Godwin Obla Foundation, Chief Godwin Obla, who re-echoed the concern of the chief judge of the state, lamented how judicial officers worked under harsh environment across the state even as “our Judges are the most intellectually-endowed and forthright judges in the country.”
He said the initial focus of the foundation was the construction of the BAR Centre, named after an illustrious son, Chief Morgan Ogbole, but added that the foundation thereafter found the need to rehabilitate the adjoining High Court that was in a sorry state.
Obla charged the staff of the court to make judicious use of the renovated court, noting that “the staff of the court have a moral obligation and responsibility to keep the court in good and habitable condition expected of a Superior Court of record.”
