It may not be out of place to say that the magistrate court at Obehie, in Ukwa West local government area is among the worst hit.

By Chimezie Umunnakwe

The judiciary is widely regarded as the last hope of the common man despite the high cost of obtaining justice in the country.

One wonders how the judiciary, the third arm of government, will be able to play this vital role when working in an unconducive environment.

The rainy season which is a blessing to farmers, has become a curse to some judicial officers owing to the dilapidating condition of some court buildings.

Besides financial autonomy, the poor state of some court buildings which are at various stages of decay are among the reasons for the frequent strike embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).

It may not be out of place to say that the magistrate court at Obehie, in Ukwa West local government area is among the worst hit.

The Court’s administrative building was de-roofed about two years ago, by a contractor working for the Abia State Oil Producing Development Areas Commission (ASOPADEC).

The contract for the renovation of the administrative building was abandoned, thereby depriving the 18 judicial staff of office accommodation.

Speaking to ALL FACTS NEWSPAPER, Chief Sam Ogbonna-a legal practitioner said the roof of the court hall close to the magistrate’s seat was removed, while the administrative block was re-roofed.

According to Mr. Ogbonna, apart from being an eyesore, proceedings are stalled whenever it rains.

“I would not say it has in any way affected the dispensation of justice, rather, it affects the productivity of the court and its operators – that is the chairman, the members and the workers and lawyers.

“A very good environment enhances productivity. Out of 24 hours, if civil service is what it used to be, by 8 : 00 am, a civil servant should be in his office until 4 : 00 pm., how can he be working under a leaking roof and work well?

“That place is an eyesore and I wonder how the workers and the court officials manage to cope. I still want to commend the chairman of the court and its members and workers for enduring the situation”, he said.

The lawyer called on the Abia government and ASOPADEC to intervene and ensure that the contractor goes back to site to complete the job which stalls proceedings at the court.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of ASOPADEC, Mr Ikechukwu Onuegbu said the Obehie Customary Court reconstruction is an ongoing and would be completed before the third quarter ends.

“We were there sometime in June and there is a committee that was set up to go and re-assess the projects that we have not completed and we went to Ukwa West, Obehie, Umudobia and others.

“We started completing and commissioning projects from Abia North and came to Abia Central and now we are moving to Abia South.

“One of the reasons the court reconstruction was abandoned was because the commission had a shortfall of funds this year as COVID-19 and insecurity affected us adversely in the delivery of many of our projects.

“We have up to 150 projects that we are carrying now and that project is in Ukwa West which is a very big contributing community to our funds.

“The second reason is that the contractor handling the contract died; we are using direct labour to execute the project.

“The contractor, one Euphraim Nwaji died perhaps it was because we were trying to pay attention to his health instead of giving him money to complete the work first that may have helped to stall the work”, he said.

He assured that the court is among the projects the commission had lined up to complete before the end of the third quarter of 2021.