By Onoriode Etatsemi
Delta State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Isaiah Bozimo Esq. has identified proper case management by the State Legal Officers as strategic measures towards minimising the waste of time and resources for government .
Mr. Bozimo stated this in Asaba while declaring open a capacity building workshop for Legal Officers of the ministry.
The Attorney-General, who was represented by the Solicitor-General of the State and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mr. Erebe Omamuzo, said that the Ministry under his watch had been carrying out continuous education process for its staff.
He noted that Delta State Government was their client hence the need to always do proper case management in all the cases they were handling in order to effectively manage government’s financial resources which according to him were scarce.
Mr. Bozimo said that the first thing every State Legal Officer should do upon receiving a case was to strategise to be able to ascertain whether the case was not supposed to go to court, find out if there were preliminary objections that needed to be filed and also identify if there were issues of jurisdiction that needed to be filed in the case.
The Attorney-General stated that case management was how to manage time and resources to ensure that frivolous cases against government do not linger in court for several years.
While saying that the Ministry of Justice was a service oriented one , Mr. Bozimo stated that the essence of the training was to equip the Legal Officers with the needed strategies on how to manage cases.
Earlier, the Resource Person, Mrs. Funke Adekoya ,SAN said that the training was anchored on how to prepare a case strategy and how to implement such strategy effectively as well as how to perform in court by leading one’s evidence and present exhibits and close the season with final address.
Mrs. Adekoya stated that at the end of the capacity building, participants should be able to understand their role and responsibility for ensuring that they achieved the objectives of their clients which is the Ministry of Justice and Delta State Government.
In an interview with some of the participants including the Director of Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence and Child Rights, Mrs Akamaguna Patricia Uche, the Director of Public Prosecution Mrs Jesin Efe Odogwu and the Director of Public Defender, Mr. Ernest Edonwonyi, who said that the training was educative, noted that the essence of the training was to equip them for effective service delivery.
The trio opined that as a State Counsel whenever a case was assigned to them , they needed to take decision whether the case was a matter that should go to court or it was a matter that should be mediated upon.
They said that as soon as the lawyer identifed early the need for alternative dispute resolution, time and resources would be better achieved.
