The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), in partnership with Oyo and Rivers State Judiciaries have inaugurated Small Claims Judicial Committees to begin the process of establishing Small Claims Courts in their respective States.
This is stated in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday and signed by Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business, and PEBEC Secretary.
The states have already established Small Claims Judicial Committees to kickstart the process of establishing Small Claims Courts in their various States.
In a statement signed by Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Special Advisor to the President on Ease of Doing Business and Secretary of PEBEC, it was stated that the establishment of Small Claims Courts would increase MSMEs’ access to justice.
Accordingly, the courts would improve the judicial process by making it easier to resolve simple debt recovery disputes involving small claims of N5m and below.
According to Oduwole, the court aggressively supports self-representation and follows stringent deadlines for significant court proceedings. Small Claims Courts have already been set up in the states of Lagos, Kano, Edo, Ogun, Ekiti, Jigawa, and Nasarawa.
The Oyo State Chief Judge, Justice Munta Ladipo Abimbola, stressed the significance of Small Claims Courts in advancing straightforward financial cases when he officially launched the Small Claims Judicial Committee for the establishment of Small Claims Court in Oyo State.
The committee, which would be presided over by Justice O.S. Adeyemi, was given a charge by him to diligently carry out its duties in accordance with the PEBEC guidelines and submit its report within 14 days of the inauguration.
The Chief Judge of the Rivers State Judiciary Justice Simeon Amadi, while inaugurating the Small Claims Judicial Committee to oversee the creation of Small Claims Court in Rivers State, noted that while the State appeared to be starting late in establishing a Small Claims Court, the Rivers State Judiciary was “spurred to start well and overtake others who started earlier”.
