The National Industrial
Court (“NIC”) has been listed as one of the superior courts of record in
Nigeria by the third amendment to the 1999 constitution. Hence it has full
constitutional capacity at par with any High Court in Nigeria.[2] Garnishee proceedings is one of the
ways (and a generally preferred one) monetary judgments can be enforced in
Nigeria and our jurisprudence is rich with the interpretation of the provisions
of the Sheriff and Civil Processes Act, (the overriding and generally
applicable law), decided cases and even commentaries of legal scholars and
authors.
However, unlike the
procedure for garnishee proceedings adopted by the High Courts of the various
states, and the Federal High Court, there are some differences in the way the
National Industrial Court Civil Procedure Rules 2017 prescribes that garnishee
applications should be handled at the NIC which is considered worthy of this
commentary. These procedural differences recently impacted a successful
litigant,[3] who was seeking to reap the fruit of
litigation via garnishee proceedings at the NIC, with very unpleasant
consequences, hence this critique.
Procedural differences in
the garnishee application proceedings at the NIC compared to that of the High
Courts.
Relevant Facts:
After obtaining a monetary judgment at the NIC, Lagos and at the expiration of
the of 30 days grace period that the Honourable Judge gave the judgment debtor
to pay the judgment sum and following the judgment debtor’s failure to pay the
judgment sum as ordered by the Court, an application for garnishee proceedings
was filed, pursuant to the Sheriff and Civil Processes Act. Upon filing the
application, counsel followed up with the registry of court with a view to
obtaining a date for the hearing of the said application – ostensibly before
the same judge that delivered the judgment. It was after mounting pressure with
a view to obtaining a hearing date for the garnishee proceedings that the
registrar called the attention of counsel to the fact that the case file had
not been assigned to a judge. Upon that information, further enquiries were
made whereupon the registrar took time to explain the garnishee application
procedure at the NIC in detail.
Order 47 rule 19 of
the NIC Civil Procedures Rules 2017 provides that “any proceedings initiated
as a Post Judgment proceeding or any application brought or filed as a post
Judgment proceedings shall be given a new Suit Number”. By virtue of this
provision, the first thing to note is that the NIC considers a garnishee
application as a post-judgment application for which a new file must be created
unlike the practice at the High Courts where the same case file in which the
monetary judgment was delivered is utilised for the garnishee proceedings.
Secondly, the garnishee application will be given a new motion number and a new
file number comprising of the old case number but with additional designation
of letter ‘m’ to indicate that it is a new process entirely and in compliance
with order 47 rules 18, 19 and 20 of the
rules of court. This is unlike the practice at the High Courts which continue
the use of the same old case file and number. The third difference is that the
new garnishee application file will have to go through re-assignment procedure
where it may or may not be assigned to the same judge that heard and delivered
the monetary judgment. This also is unlike the practice in the High Courts
where the same judge that heard and delivered the judgment will usually hear
and determine the garnishee application.
It should be noted though,
that Order 47 Rule 21 of the NIC Civil Procedures Rules 2017 provides
that “any application filed as post-judgment proceedings shall unless
otherwise directed by the President of the Court be heard and
determined by the Judge who heard the substantive suit” but the effect of
the preceding provisions of rules 18, 19, and 20 renders the benefit of the
rule 21 ineffectual in practice as experienced in the case under reference.
Critique of the provisions
of Order 47 Rules 18, 19, and 20 of the NIC Civil Procedure Rules 2017 with
respect to garnishee application.
The practice of having the
trial court return the case file to the Registry of the Court’s Division and
creating separate case file for garnishee application can extend the
turn-around time of the garnishee proceedings itself as was experienced in the
case referenced herein. The new post-judgment application file could not be
created timely as the court ran out of branded file jackets with which to
create the new case file. The registry too could not create a temporary file
jacket for the application despite several pressures mounted on them.
Considering how fast such an application should be heard, the bureaucracy of
creating a fresh case file for an application that should be determined quickly
could significantly reduce the effectiveness of deploying a garnishee
proceedings to enforce a monetary judgment at NIC.
Secondly, the practice of
giving a new motion number comprising of the old case number but with
additional designation of letter ‘m’ to it is an unnecessary surplusage that
tends to waste time. Though a post-judgment application, a garnishee
application is still an application in the cause in which judgment has been
delivered. For example, an application to correct clerical error in a judgment
is not normally given a fresh file number (at least at the High Courts), so why
does a garnishee application require that fresh case numbering.
The third critique concerns
practice of possibly having a garnishee application file re-assigned to another
judge. The new file stands the risk of not being reassigned on time along with
suffering from other vagaries of the officials who have the responsibility to
ensure quick reassignment of the case file. In the case under reference, the
additional excuse from the registry, after mounting pressure on them, was that
the registry was out of stock of the branded file jacket in which they place
new matters before sending the new case file for assignment. Consequently, the
new garnishee application file was not assigned to a judge for hearing until at
least 3 months after the application was filed. This practice, which is
understood to have been put in place to ensure that another judge is able to
attend to the new motion case file on time in the event of retirement or
transfer of the judge who delivered the judgment, and to avoid other
administrative bottleneck that may arise after the judgment has been delivered,
has not worked out well. In fact, the opposite of the intended results were the
consequences that attended the experience narrated above.
Recommendations
Enforcement of judgment via
garnishee proceedings is a veritable means through which a successful litigant
in a monetary judgment can reap the fruits of a favourable decision, but when
the proceedings takes so long to commence after filing the application, the
very aim of the proceedings is defeated. It is important that the President of
the NIC reviews this rules of practice at the next review of the rules of
court. The present rules of court also make provisions for enforcement of
judgments through garnishee proceedings in Order 51. We recommend that the
present practice of processing, assigning, and handling the case file in which
a judgment or order has been delivered in line with Order 47 Rules 18, 19 and
20 of the Rules of court should be discontinued while the case file in which
there is a garnishee application immediately, and by default, be brought to the
attention of the judge that delivered the judgment or order as is the practice
in the High Courts. It is only if such judge is otherwise unavailable that the
hearing of the application should be assigned to another judge for speedy
hearing and determination of the application. This way, the provisions of
Orders 47 Rule 21 and 51 of the NIC Civil Procedures Rules 2017 will be
effectively deployed to satisfactory effect in garnishee proceedings before the
NIC in favour of successful monetary judgment litigants and creditors.
Since the present practice
is based on the rules of court and the next round of review of the rules of
court may take some years to be done, my Lord the President of the NIC is urged
to issue a practice direction to effect the required changes in the meanwhile.
[1]Notary
Public for Nigeria and Senior Associate with the Dispute Resolution
Department of S. P. A. Ajibade & Co., Lagos Office, Nigeria.
[2]
See sections 6 (5) (cc); 84 (4); 240; 243 (2 & (4) and 254 (A), (B), (C),
(D), and of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as
amended by Third Alteration 2010, Act No. 3).
[3]
The monetary judgement was delivered on Friday 22nd November
2019 by His Lordship Hon. Justice Elizabeth A Oji, Phd in Suit
No: NICN/LA/464/2016 Prof. Dr Mansi El-Mansi v. Elizade University,
accessible athttps://judgement.nicnadr.gov.ng/details.php?id=3955.
On
26th Nov, 2020, a video of Miss Giwa went viral when her friend and
popular comedian, Woli Arole, shared a video to promote her new food business. What
caught the attention of many was that Miss Giwa is a lawyer who passed both the
Nigerian Law School and her University degree with a 2nd Class Upper
grade.
The
NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata in response to the video and due to his
passionate interest on the general welfare of lawyers, instituted a Fact
Finding panel to meet with Miss Giwa.
Members
of the panel included Mr. Tolu Aderemi as Chairman, Mrs Funmi Roberts as
Honourary Member, Mr. Kanu Stephen and Mr. Jonathan Agbo as members as well as
the NBA YLF Ibadan Branch Chairman, Mr. Sile Obasa. The members were able to
meet with Miss Giwa and her former employers, Mr. and Mrs. Seun Falade, with
the aim of identiying how the Bar could be of support to her.
The
Committee resolved to report its findings to the NBA President and key amongst
its recommendations is whether
the NBA should propose an Articleship arrangement and also, the
establishment of a framework for the welfare of young lawyers.
The
Committee also recommended that upon the conclusion of Miss Giwa’s Masters
programme, she should be assisted in getting a lecturing job.
Imagine
being arrested for making a tweet on twitter or making an instagram post. The
Federal Government is attempting to legalise the prosecution of anyone who they
believe posts any statement on social media which they deem as hateful or fake.
The “Hate Speech”and “Social Media Bill” have been a major issue for debate
ever since the legislative arm of government introduced these billsin 2019 as
an attempt to put a restriction to the use of social media in Nigeria. To
justify theseproposed bills by the legislature, the President refused to sign
the Digital
Rights Bill which was a bill to protect the rights of Nigerians in the
digital space.
These bills drew massive criticisms from all
sectors in Nigeria with the hashtag #SayNoToSocialMediaBill
trending on Twitter as a result, the implementation of both bills were put on
hold. However it gained a new momentum shortly after the #EndSars Protest when the
Minister for Information stated that there is no going back on the Social Media
Bill.
The
Social MediaBill formally called “Protection
from Internet Falsehood andManipulation Bill 2019”which aims to “prevent
the transmission of false statements/declaration of facts in Nigeria and to
enable measures to be taken to counter the effects of such transmission”” (see
Section 1). It prohibits statements on social media deemed “likely to be
prejudicial to national security” (Section 3 (b) (i), “those which may diminish
public confidence” in Nigeria’s government (Section 3 (b) (vi). The Bill
proposes these offenses be punishable by a fine between 200,000 Thousand Naira
to 10 Million Naira and/or a prison sentence of 3 years (Sections 3-5). The bill
seeks to permit law enforcement agencies to order internet service providers to
disable internet access to customers (Section 12 (3).
The
Hate Speech Bill criminalises what the government perceives as hate speech
particularly in Section 4 which
provides for sanctions of life imprisonment and the death penalty if that supposed
hate speech resulted in the death of another.
CONTRAVENTION OF BOTH BILLS TO THE CONSTITUTION
The
Nigerian Constitution is supreme to any other law and any law that is in
contravention with the Constitution shall be deemed null and void. The Social
Media Bill and the Hate Speech Bill appears to be a threat to freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, and right to private life as enshrined in Sections 37 and 39 of the Constitution.The
United States courts have reiterated their stance against the enactment of laws
that criminalises hate speech as such laws are in violations of the right to
free speech to the United State Constitution. An example of such ruling is the case of Matel v Tam (2017) No. 15-1293.
In
addition, Section 26 of the Cybercrimes
(Prohibition, Prevention) Act 2015 makes similar provision to the hate
speech bill but with lesser punishment such as 10 Million Naira fine or 5 years
imprisonment so of what use is the creation of another law relating to hate
speech so of what use is the creation of another law relating to hate speech.
The
punishments contained in both bill are totally extreme moreso as the term “hate
speech” is subjective. Legislatorsadvocating for the bill claim it is necessary
in the interests of security, peace and unity but the language of the bill is
one that creates discomfort and vague criminal offenses that would allow the
authorities to prosecute peaceful criticism of the government.
CONCLUSION
With
about 29.3 million users across Nigeria, social media is a critical tool for
shaping public communication and enlightenment. It is true that social media could
be misused at times however, everything in life has its advantages and
disadvantages. The implementation of these bills would violateinternational laws
protecting freedom of speech.
Some
have used China as an example on their justification in supporting the bill.
One thing they should realize is that China is not a multi-party democratic
country like Nigeria is supposed to be. Threatening the freedom of its citizens
is threatening the peace of the country.
Also,
the lack of sincerity of this government is another reason for the massive
rejection of these bills. You may recall that this administration is the
biggest beneficiary of this purported hate speech as they were unfiltered with
the heavy criticism of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
One
of the pillars of rule of law in a democratic society is the enforcement of
Fundamental Rights of which Freedom of Speech is inherent. Regulating social
media is like limiting freedom of speech which is antithetical to democratic
society. Nigeria’s constitution, like African and international human rights
laws protects the right to freedom of expression and provides that any
restriction to this right must be justifiable in a democratic society. If these
bills are passed, the government will be empowered to shut down the internet as
what they will deem hate speech or false news may be subjective or relative.
Freda Odigie is a Legal Practitioner at E.A
Otokhina& Co.
Agriculture largely contributes to the Nigerian economy accounting
for over 25% of the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP), it is also
responsible for 30% of the existing employments in the country. However, the
country remains behind its counterparts in developed countries as it still
relies on crude implements and obsolete technology in the agribusiness, a
practice fuelled by Nigerian farmers opting for subsistent agriculture as a
means of survival and not with the goal of contributing to the nation’s
economy.
Therefore, the “International Bar Association, 2020: Virtually
Together Global Influential Session”hosted by Omaplex Law Firm was indeed
timelyas it provided an avenue for speakers from various sectors of the
Nigerian economy to speak on the modalities necessary to make agribusiness in
Nigeria technology driven.It is indeed against the backdrop of this
enlightening session that this article is written with a view to ensure that
innovative ideas do not terminate at the point of mere intellectual
discussions, rather, that they are to be dissected and elucidated for proper implementation.
This article shall be giving an insight into the transformation of
the Nigerian agricultural sector from ‘cutlasses to drones’as expounded by the
speakers in the convention, highlighting the challenges the sector faces and
finally making recommendations on probable steps required to develop an
agricultural sector that can compete globally.
Some challenges
faced by Agriculture in Nigeria
Africa indisputably has the largest arable land in the world. It
is therefore rather surprising that more than 50% of Africans go to bed hungry.
The reason for this sad reality is not farfetched: a lot of indigenous farmers
are still confined to the use of ancient farming tools used by their forefathers.
In the opinion of Mr. Kingsley Okorie, the Deputy Governor on Economic Policy
of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the deplorable state of the Nigerian
agricultural sector, has prompted CBN to developprograms and projects geared
towards empowering local farmers and those interested in using technology to
improve agriculture in other to develop a system of farming that can compete favourably
globally.
Dr. Manzo Daniel Usman, the Director General, Nigeria Agribusiness
Group when speaking at the convention pointed out in detail the failure of
Nigeria as a country to meet up with international best practices in
Agriculture globally. As a country, Nigeria is far from where it ought to be as
a leading country in agriculture despite having at its disposal favorable climatic
conditions and massive lands good for crop production and animal husbandry. The
country suffers a majorsetback because of its failure to harness these God
given blessings optimally. A lot of countries with smaller lands for
agriculture like Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia are thriving in world markets
through rice production and other countries like Libya, although located in a
desert region dominates the wheat and barley market by employing irrigation. It
therefore rests withNigeria as a country to set standards that in turn form
specifications across the boardthat can be certified as the ideal to which
every agribusiness enterprise must attain in order to scale this industry to a
more befitting place in the agribusiness world over.
In Africa, agriculture is approached merely as a means of
survival. Small scale farmers that make up 80% of farmers in Nigeria engage in
farming as an avenue to feed themselves and their immediate families and
sometimes in good seasons of harvest, to sell what is left. This is however a
very myopic approach to agriculture. According to Dr IkechukwuKelikume, the
Programme Director, Agribusiness Management, Lagos Business School, agriculture
is a business and farmers are to see themselves as entrepreneurs who must
approach the business of farming as such.He further reiterates that 50% of the
output gotten yearly from crop farming in Nigeria is lost to postharvest
mishaps because the 80% of farmers that makeup the upstream of the Nigerian
agricultural sector are small scale farmers who are not enlightened or welcoming
of the basic technologies necessary for preserving their crops. Regrettably,
farmers in this part of the world have not fully accepted the use of technology
in agriculture for two major reasons namely: illiteracy and lack of capital.
Law is an important factor in any thriving sector. It is the laws
and policies available that gives any sector in which it operates the leverage
to grow and expand. Lamentably, majority of the Nigerian lawyers have failed to
make their input in boosting the country’s agricultural sector which has
resulted in the stagnant growth currently plaguing the sector. In the opinion
of Mrs. OnyinyeChikwendu-Ikechebelu, International Trade and Commerce Expert of
O. M. Atoyebi, SAN (Omaplex Law Firm),lawyers play a key role in using their
legal and business know-how in bringing policy makers, agribusiness
owners and end-users together to match value and in that wise arrive at the
desired goals of each stakeholder.
A lawyer is properly placed amongst other
agriculture industry professionals to understand the agricultural industry, and
the value chain that it operates under. We understand the need for finance and
favourable governmental policies, and the indisputable role of technology to
increase productivity while also being cognisant of the role of education and
knowledge sharing to ensure that the ultimate purpose of growing the
agricultural industry, is achieved.
Our role is vital not only because we
understand the challenges that the sector faces but we have the legal
proficiency to provide and create solutions to these challenges which we have
done in the Oil and Gas
sector, as a result of which the industry has seen tremendous growth over the
years because of the input of lawyers, while the agricultural sector has been
relegated to a pastime for the uneducated and elderly.
The Future of
Agriculture inNigeria
It is certainly not implausible to desire a nation with an economy
empowered by different sectors. Agriculture has proven in the years past and
even in present times to hold amazing potential if adequately harnessed. The deplorable
state of the agricultural sector in Nigeria currentlydenies Nigeriansthe opportunity
to harness the boundless possibilities within the sector. Indeed, agriculture
in Nigeria has the capacity to become a profitable and powerful sector with the
capability to feed the nations ever growing population and significantly
contribute to global trade.
The future of the Nigerian agricultural sector as such is one which
ought to be characterized by policy adaptation and technological improvements
that will transcend the present reality of things, literally taking it from an
era of cutlasses to one of drones. An age where there will be increased
productivity through the use of technology. Some instances that comes to mind, is
the use of technology to prevent postharvest losses by monitoring climate
change, using drones for soil and field analysis by producing precise maps for
early soil analysis, using drones to plan seed plating and gathering data for
managing irrigation.
The future of the Nigerian agricultural sector can be one in which
our youths develop genuine interests in farming, availing the industry of the manpower
and innovation that comes with the input of the young and wecan harness the
diversity in growing this sector of the Nigeria economy.
Recommendations
No doubt, turning back the clock by embracing agriculture is one
of the best solutions that can help reposition Nigeria’s fragile economy. With
food insecurities on the rise in Nigeria, small scale farmers are encouraged to
accept technology in improving their products. With global population predicted
to grow by 2 billion in 2050 and with more than half of that growth from
Sub-Saharan Africa, it a necessity to improve food production through the use
of technology in agriculture.
If the nation continues in the use of hoes, cutlasses and other
crude implements, it will one day ultimately depend entirely on other countries
to feed.For this reason, there is an urgent need to embrace technology. Dr.
Francis DubemChizea, the Acting Director General National Space Research and
Development Agency (NARSDA), in making his contributions to the convention,
encouraged the government to relax the strict rules and policies surrounding
the use of drones, so that farmers can enjoy the benefits drones and technology
in general can offer agriculture.
Agriculture remains one of the most unregulated industries in
Nigeria, in the circumstance, the need has arisen for lawyers to make their
input in facilitating the growth of the sector. In this regard, Mr. Kingsley
Okorie in sharing his thoughts emphasized the need for lawyers to look into the
legal aspects of agriculture by developing effective legal frame work to ensure
data privacy/security and intellectual property protection to budding
technology driven agricultural start-ups which is necessary in safeguarding and
promoting investor interests in the agribusiness.
Lawyers have a role to play in stabilizing the agricultural sector
in numerous ways which include: obtaining licensing and permits that
agricultural entitiesmay need to
operate, such as setting up corporations and partnerships; assisting in
succession planning to help preserve agribusinesses for future generations,
provide information to those in agriculture on labour and employment laws;
provide guidance to ensure regulatory compliance; give general legal counsel to
individuals, companies and organizations on agriculture related matters
etcetera.
In the opinion of Mrs. OnyinyeChikwendu-Ikechebelu, the time has
come for lawyers to input their expertise to ensure that Nigeria’s agricultural
sector grows into one capable of competing globally.
Additionally, it is necessary for the upstream stakeholders in the
agricultural sector, namely government and policy makers to develop policies
that are not only workable but also in tandem with modern realities. In the
opinion of Dr.Monzo Daniel Usman,such policies should be developed to encourage
cost sharing and clustering because it is more beneficial and ensures the
increase in co-operation as well as competition amongst farmers.
Lastly, itis pertinentto buttress the growth and innovation the
active participation of youths in the agricultural sector can bring. Youthscan
be encouraged to invest in activities that support agricultural production,
capacity building and the improvements of goods and services in the
agricultural sector.
This can however not be achieved in isolation, therefore, it lies
on the government to develop incentives to attract the youths to this growing
sector. It is also necessary to fuel as well as build the drive and enthusiasm for
agriculture from the early years of education by inculcating in the formative
years of the Nigerian child,the importance of agriculture as well as providing
avenues for them to practice agriculture and agribusinesses.
Some decades ago, Agriculture was central to Nigeria’s Economy,
until the oil boom in the 1970s. However, the time has come to create a stable
economy that thrives on various sectors,since the Nigerian economy cannot
thrive on one sector, there is an urgent need to develop a system of
agriculture that can be welcomed by all and sundry.
Written by:OyetolaMuyiwa Atoyebi, SAN.
Mr.
OyetolaMuyiwaAtoyebi, SAN is the Managing Partner of OMAPLEX Law Firm, he is
one of the leading Senior Advocates of Nigeria in Information Technology, Cyber
Security, Fintech and Artificial Intelligence (AI). He is the youngest in the
history of Nigeria to be elevated to the rank of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
At age 34, he was conferred with the prestigious rank in September, 2019. He
has a track record of being diligent and he ensures that the same drive and
zeal is put into all matters handled by the firm. He is also an avid golfer.
