By: Felix Ikpotor
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, on Thursday, held a sensitization meeting with stakeholders from the Niger Delta states on enforcement of court judgements in the country.
Speaking at the event which took place in Port Harcourt, Deputy Director of SERAP, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare stated that the interactive session with stakeholders from the Niger Delta region was aimed at addressing the constant disobedience to court judgements on environmental rights displayed by companies, government and other influential citizens in Nigeria.
He also said the engagement serves to enlighten and empower oil and gas producing communities on how to demand for transparency and accountability in the management of public resources which accrues from their domain .
Oluwadare, added that the event was organised majorly to brainstorm and strategise on ways to making sure decisions of the court are obeyed and enforced in the country.
“We have seen the judgement but how do we make it happen? Today we are here to brainstorm and strategise on the way into making these decisions of court don’t gather dust but come out viable for the communities that needs them.
“It’s time for us to think creatively, plan effectively and mobilise powerfully so that environmental social justice becomes more than just words on the pages of a book,” Oluwadare stated.
Presenting a paper titled, “Public Interest Litigation and Enforcement of Judgment in Environmental Matters in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria,” a legal practitioner and human rights activist, Dr. Chukwuma Chinwo noted that there is such much to be done to ameliorate the suffering of the people of the Niger Delta region against activities of multinationals whose activities he said destroys the lives of the people on a daily basis.
He emphasized that there is need for collective efforts towards ensuring the enforcement of judgements for the greater benefits of people of the region and further commended SERAP for it’s numerous fights for social justice in the country.
Chinwo, identified some of the factors that hinders the immediate enforcement of a judgement as specific designation of future date, order of stay of execution of the judgment by the trial court or an appellate court, lawlessness shown in recalcitrance by the judgment debtor, challenges of execution when complicated by the relevant agencies, lack of resources to meet the judgment debt, inappropriate mode of execution by the judgment creditor amongst others.
He also noted other challenges to judgement executions to include unrealistic claims and awards, interest of the executors, political interests and unwillingness of the executors to execute the judgements.
The guest speaker noted that getting judgement executed against multinationals and government agencies is difficult considering the kind of system in operation in the country, but urged the stakeholders not to relent.
Also speaking, a representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Adaeze Amanda, called for more advocacy on the enforcement of judgments, insisting that justice shouldn’t just be an aspiration but a reality.
Meanwhile, the group has inaugurated 16 new volunteer lawyers to offer pro-bono services oppressed members of the public.
The 16 new volunteer lawyers are drawn from Rivers, Edo, Ondo, Bayelsa and Delta states.
SERAP’s legal adviser, Mr. Kehinde Oyewumi, in his address to the volunteer lawyers said the organisation expects them to undertake cases in court for them, offer legal opinion on issues to advance their course, provide update on cases and ensure enforcement of court judgements through their activities.
He also charged stakeholders and community representatives to propagate the message and sensitise the people on the efforts to enforce judgements as well as report cases of human rights violations to SERAP.
