With increasing economic activities in the Territory and resultant disputes arising from business transactions, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Thursday joined states like, Lagos, Kano, Nasarawa, Bayelsa, among others, to launch small claims court to settle disputes emanating from contractual relationships.
The launch of the small claims court and unveiling of its practice direction and handbook, according to the FCT Chief Judge, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, was part of efforts aimed at decongesting the regular courts in the Territory.
While speaking at the launch in Abuja, the CJ said the initiative was not only epochal but also one that would enhance the process of settlement of commercial disputes by providing easy access and speedy resolution of simple debt recovery disputes involving small claims.
According to Justice Baba-Yusif, “The FCT judiciary has taken a bold and significant step towards enhancing the process of settlement of commercial disputes by the establishment of small claims courts with the main objective of providing easy access and speedy resolution of simple debt recovery disputes involving small claims.
“Records in the recent past have shown that with the increase in economic activities in the country and the FCT in particular over the years, the myriad of disputes arising from business transactions, investments and all sorts of contractual relationships are also increasing daily.
“Undoubtedly, parties to these disputes also expectedly seek settlement daily by instituting legal actions in the court in accordance with the terms of their agreements.
“In many such instances, not only are the amounts of claim not in contest, but they are also relatively small to have warranted the kind of delay, rigour and expenses in terms of finance and time, often associated with proceedings in the regular courts, with its attendant consequences on the economic growth in the country.”
The CJ said the need to establish the small claims courts was informed by the fact that there was no provision in regular courts to accommodate and cater for such needs.
“Put in another way, we have no established mechanism to deal with small claims in our regular Courts. It is, therefore, a heartwarming development that this disturbing gap has been effectively closed today,” the CJ said.
According to Baba-Yusuf, by the legal instruments backing the small claims courts, any claim not exceeding N4 million and a maximum of N7 million for counter claim were respectively recognised as small claims.
He informed that, “the small claims courts have been invested with jurisdictional competence to deal with small claims expeditiously and dispose same not later than sixty (60) days from the date the matter was initiated in court.”
The CJ assured that machinery has been put in place to translate the handbook on the small claims court into the three Nigerian major languages of Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba.
In her speech at the event, the chairperson, Steering Committee for the Small Claims Court, Justice Maryann Anenih, asserted that the concept of small claims court is not new.
According to her, the concept was global concept as it had been in existence for a century in some developed countries.
“The small claims court of the FCT has been established with a view to adopting a holistic approach to ameliorating the hardship that is associated with debt recovery for small claims.
“In essence, the objective of the small claims court is to curb lengthy and expensive civil proceedings which can be a huge burden on economic activities by providing easy access to an informal, inexpensive and speedy resolution of simple recovery dispute across the magisterial district in FCT,” she said.
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