By Olanrewaju Lawal
Dr. Junaidu Bello Marshall was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Usmanu Dan fodiyo university, Sokoto from where he was appointed the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state. In this interaction with a select group of journalists, Marshall spoke on various issues.
What are your roles as the Commissioner for Justice of the state?
The Attorney General is the Chief Law Officer of Kebbi State, Chief Legal Adviser to the government and head of the official Bar of the state. It’s his responsibility to ensure public prosecutions, civil litigations on behalf of the government of Kebbi State, contract vetting and registration on behalf of Kebbi State Government, drafting of legislation (primary and subsidiary bills) authentication of laws, law reform, law revision, administration of estates, public trustee, promotion of Rule of law, protection of citizen rights and public engagement.
As the Chief Law Officer of the State, I serve as the Head of the entire Ministry of Justice. For its proper functioning, the Ministry is divided into various departments. These departments have heads referred to as the Directors who are directly answerable to the Attorney General through the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry. The Attorney General in conjunction with the Solicitor General and these Directors coordinate, supervise and implement the mandates of Government with a view to ensuring rule of law in the state. The Departments under the Ministry include the Directorate of Public Prosecutions; Civil Litigation; Advisory Services and Judicial Liason; Legal Drafting; Planning, Research and Statistics; Departments of Personnel Management and Finance respectively.
The Attorney General in the discharge of his functions can delegate any law officer in the departments of the Ministry to act on his behalf. Some other functions of the Attorney General include: Giving legal advice to Government, Ministries, Statutory bodies and Departments of Government; arranging for legal officers and lawyers to prosecute criminal matters as well as institute or defend civil action on behalf of the state and its agencies; ensuring constant and intellectual review of laws applicable within the state with a view to ensuring dynamism and development; working in accordance with directives from the cabinet in preparing executive bills for enactment by the state House of Assembly; Drafting subsidiary legislations for government ministries and other bodies; attending and participating in the State Council meeting where policies are formulated for the state; ensuring uniformity and adequacy of enforcement of State laws; and also performing other functions as may be assigned by the governor from time to time.
Since your appointment as the Commissioner for Justice, what are the major achievements recorded?
At the inception of this administration, the Attorney Generals’ Chamber at the State Secretariat, Birnin Kebbi was in bad condition and in dire need of urgent rehabilitation and furnishing, to make the environment favourable for the Attorney General to discharge his duties effectively and efficiently. Attorney General’s Chamber has not been in use for quite a long period of time thereby making the environment completely unsuitable and uncomfortable. His Excellency immediately approved the complete refurbishing of the Attorney General’s chambers and it is presently in good working condition with all the necessary tools and materials.
Are you still enjoying researching and having access to Law books at the Library?
At the inception of this administration, it was obvious that the Library of Ministry of Justice was in dire need of refurbishing and supply of Law books, Law reports and other research materials due to the fact that some part of the former building of the Ministry of Justice burnt down in the year 2006 including the Law library and all the law books, law reports and other valuable documents were lost. These lost items were not replaced despite the rapid development of our laws in the country, which factor put our Law Officers at disadvantage.
His Excellency approved the refurbishing and supply of Law Reports to the Ministry’s Library. Presently, the Library is equipped with recent Law Reports including the previous 10 years subscription of Nigerian Weekly Law Report (NWLR), Nigerian Supreme Court Quarterly Law Report (NSCQLR), 17 volumes of Nigerian Criminal Cases (NCC) and numerous other Law Books.
So far, how do you ensure that law officers working in your Ministry have access to working tools?
This administration observed that most of the Laptops provided to the State Counsel in the year 2018, for the purpose of drafting legal advice and processes to be filed in courts as well as conducting legal research became malfunctioned and there is the urgent need for the purchase of 40 new laptops for the State Counsel in the Ministry. His Excellency graciously approved and currently all the Law Officers in the state received new Laptops.
Also, His Excellency approved the yearly subscription of the Law Pavillion and Law Companion applications for the Counsel in the Ministry of Justice for the first time since September 2020. Absence of these applications since 2020 significantly bar the Law Officers access to recent decided cases to conduct their criminal prosecution and civil litigation in courts. The Law Pavillion is one of the best tools for providing online resources for research which makes it easy for its users and presently every good Legal Practitioner uses the Law Pavillion to do his/her research efficiently.
The Law Pavillion contains law books, Laws of Federation and Statutes as well as cases old and recent from the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court which serves as precedents that a Lawyer uses to argue his cases in court.
In addition to Law Pavillion, His Excellency equally approved the 2023-2024 subscription of Law Companion for all the Law Officers in the state with a view to ensuring adequate prosecution of cases by the Ministry in the State using modern technology applications and resources.
Apart from that, have your staffers been receiving retraining to be up to date in the Law profession?
Yes, training and retraining of lawyers in the art of prosecution of criminal cases is of paramount importance in the administration of criminal justice in any given society. In keeping with the dynamics of our Criminal Justice System, Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria, offers a one year Post Graduate Programme online for Legal Practitioners through its Distance Learning Centre, which is designed to provide relevant and appropriate sociological and criminological training at the post graduate level for the operations of Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. It also equips and prepares every Law Security Personnel to see his/her particular specialized role as only a part of the larger machinery responsible for Administration of Criminal Justice.
How are your law officers coping with the cases outside state capital, Birnin Kebbi?
For about 30 years, the Attorney General’s Chambers at Argungu and Yauri were operated at rented buildings payable on yearly basis by the State Government.
The current administration led by His Excellency, Dr Nasir Idris (Kauran Gwandu) changed the above narrative through allocations of permanent buildings to serve as Attorney General’s Chambers in Argungu and Yauri respectively.
The allocated offices are currently undergoing rehabilitations, upgrade and furnishing, to make the environment favourable for the Attorney General’s officers to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently.
Similarly, His Excellency approved the upward review of about 400 percent 2024 Wardrobe/Outfit Allowances for all the State Counsel with a view to ensuring the welfare of Law Officers in the State. The Ministry sponsored about 10 State Counsel for a 3 days Workshop on Legal Writing Skills and Research Methods. Designated Courses treated at the Workshop include; Principles of Brief Writing, Boilerplate Causes in Contractual Documents, Writing Legal Opinion, Things to avoid in Drafting, Reflective and Persuasive Writing, Research Skills, Legal Writing Research Skills and Outlets in Information Technology Era; Effective Strategies for online Research in Law Libraries. His Excellency graciously approved the attendance of Counsel from the Ministry to the Workshop.
The Ministry also sponsored Law Officers to two days training on Cyber-crime Prevention, Detection and Control for Staff in Government MDAs, Security Agencies and Institutions organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Cyber-crime and Prevention at National Women Centre, Abuja.
As part of capacity building for the law officers, all the State Counsels at the Ministry, Justices and Magistrates from the State Judiciary were given approval by His Excellency to attend and participate in Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual Conference in 2023 at Abuja. It was the first of its kind in the history of the state.
What are the efforts of the state government to encourage young people to study and practice Law in the state?
His Excellency approved the payment of N27, 500, 000 (Twenty Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only) for the 38 Kebbi State Law Students at the Nigeria Law School in January, 2024. The gesture demonstrated His Excellency’s goodwill and commitment to uplift the state to greater heights.
We are presently waiting for His Excellency’s approval for the 12 remaining students who missed the first payment to make the list to 49 students from the state. It is the first time since 2017 for the state government to pay for the indigenes at the Nigerian Law School.
Since your appointment as the Commissioner for Justice, how many cases have been handled and won for the state?
This administration met many unresolved civil cases that led to Garnishee Orders attaching about 33 Kebbi State Government’s accounts domiciled with 11 various Financial Institutions for the satisfaction of the total Judgment Debt plus interests.
The Ministry was facing many challenges on how to resolve these civil cases. However, approval was given by His Excellency and all those cases were re-negotiated and cleared by paying off those debts as ordered by the Court. At present, no Kebbi State government account is under any attachment by Court order.
What about mobility and transportation of Law Officers to different Courts in the course of their duty. Is there any provision for them?
At the inception of this Administration, there is no single vehicle belonging to the Ministry and most of the state counsels and staff are not mobile. Hence, the counsels have no choice but to board commercial vehicles to go to courts within and outside the state to carry out their official duties.
We acknowledged that part of the problems faced by most of our Counsels when they board commercial vehicles is the danger and threat to their lives as they come face to face with some convicts that were prosecuted by the same counsel. Purchasing official vehicles for the Ministry has become a necessity to carryout official activities safely and efficiently, hence, the purchase of the 406 Peugeot Wagon for the Ministry. His Excellency has already given directive for the supply of Bus for the Ministry.
In the same vein, His Excellency, also in the year 2023, gave regular approvals for quarterly witness expenses with a view to ensuring that the Attorney General’s Chambers have adequate resources to mobilise witnesses to give testimonies from across the state and beyond without difficulty. This significantly improved the adequacy on the part of prosecution in the presentation of their cases before the courts.
What are the new reforms or restructuring you have introduced into the Ministry since you resumed office?
In the effort to make the Ministry more efficient, the Department of Public Trustees and Administrator General was restructured and renamed the Advisory Services and Judicial Liaison Department. Also, about 13 units were created by the Ministry in the present administration, which include: Case Management Unit; Citizen Rights and Public Engagements Unit; Gender Based Violence Unit; Commercial and Conveyance Unit and Legislative Matters Unit among others.
Can you tell us other achievements recorded by your Ministry under this administration?
The achievements recorded by this administration since inception in May, 2023 were unprecedented and too numerous to mentioned. His Excellency’s Assent to 13 Executive Bills considered and passed by the State House of Assembly on December 29, 2023 rounded off the year on positive note. Perhaps, the support of the governor to various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Government in the year 2023 was highly commendable to all the citizenry.
In view of the above therefore, it is highly desirable to prioritize some actions for the 1st quarter of 2024, which have direct bearing on good governance in Kebbi State. The Office of the Attorney General outlined some guidelines and action plans for the MDAs with a view to ensuring the smooth implementation of their line budgets through the 2024 Appropriation Law.
What can you tell us about executive orders under this administration?
The following Executive Orders were prepared by the Ministry, which were approved and signed by the Executive Governor. The Executive Orders are: Creation of Additional Ministries in Kebbi State Order No.001 of 2023; Assignment of Executive Responsibilities Order No. 002 of 2023; Suspension of all Mining Activities in Kebbi State for Security Reasons Order No.003 of 2023; Establishment, Adoption and Implementation of Framework for Responsible and Inclusive Land-Intensive Agricultural Investments (FRILIA) Order No.004 OF 2023; The Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in Business Environment Order No.5 of 2023; Establishment of a Grievance Redress Mechanism for Trade Related Matters Order No.006 of 2023.
Can we be privileged to know the number of cases being prosecuted under your watch?
The Ministry has recorded a total number of 853 criminal cases, Motions, Bail Applications and Legal Advice since the inception of this administration. The Ministry is presently handling 80 Appeal Cases pending before the Kebbi State High Court of Justice as well as 70 Cases at the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Within the period under review, we have vetted more than 200 case dairies forwarded for Legal Advice from the relevant Law Enforcement Agencies, out of which few were terminated for want of evidence and majority were advised to be prosecuted.