As the saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied!
Therefore, the news that the Small Claims Court (SCC) has been established in Lagos State during April 2018 is most certainly welcome.
If your claim is of a commercial nature and it does not exceed N5 million, the Small Claims system guarantees that the time between the filing of the claim and judgment will not exceed 60 days, that is 2 months.
Another benefit is the simplified procedure in the SCC with the use of standard forms that have been designed to encourage claimants to file their claims in person.
All these measures will hopefully help to bring about affordable and quick justice!
In Lagos State, the SCC will operate within the Magistrate Courts system with 15 such Courts being immediately established across its five Judicial Divisions in Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos and Epe.
Kano State is next slated to establish SCCs during this pilot phase.
If the SCCs are a demonstrable success, the expectation is that they will be rolled out in other States.