Lagos Slams Own Lawyers Over Absenteeism In Court, Negligence

The Lagos State Government has slammed its own lawyers over incessant absenteeism from court and vowed to sanction lawyers who breach its procedures henceforth.

It also lamented that many of its lawyers often fail to file court processes within the statutorily stipulated time or do not file court processes at all.

The government said this unsavoury attitude had led to a number of adverse orders and judgments being given against the interest of the state government and its agencies.

State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, said the state government was unhappy about the unwholesome attitude of its lawyers, saying that government could no longer tolerate such laxity.

Ipaye, in a memo to all directors in the Ministry of Justice said: “It has come to my notice that there are many cases of counsel in the ministry failing to file court processes within statutorily stipulated time and/or not filing court processes at all.

“There have also been several instances of counsel being absent from court when cases involving the state government are scheduled for mention or hearing. This has led to a number of adverse orders and judgments being given against the interests of the state government and its agencies.

“It also portrays the ministry as being negligent or incompetent in the discharge of its functions. Apart from being contrary to the best traditions of the bar to which we all belong, this also amounts to dereliction of duty and gross negligence.”

According to Ipaye, “henceforth, cases of counsel failing to file their court processes within stipulated time and absence/lateness to court will no longer be tolerated.”

The Attorney General said in the event that there were reasons for not being able to file processes within time or for being absent from court, “such should be brought to my attention through the Head of the Directorate before the date the matter is scheduled to come up.

“I expect the fullest level of compliance with this directive and will look to heads of departments to give full force and effect to the directive immediately and take responsibility for any failures.”

—Kazeem Ugbodaga