Uche Usim, Abuja
The Acting Chairman of the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST), Mr Jude Udunni has fingered lawyers’ poor knowledge of the nation’s capital market as the principal reason why many cases are lost on technical grounds instead of merit.
To this end, he is pushing for thorough training and sensitisation programmes for litigants so as expose them to the technicalities of the capital market.
Speaking at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja at the weekend Udunni revealed that the tribunal handled 54 cases in 2019, while it has 37 cases it is currently handling.
He said: “To address this inadequacy of poor knowledge, the tribunal has tried to build the capacity of its users (litigants and counsels) as well as staff of the tribunal.
“The tribunal has held three sensitization programmes since 2017 even when it is not the duty of the tribunal to build capacity of litigants and counsels. Lack of knowledge has led to litigants losing cases. We also want solicitors and litigants to up their games so that cases are won on merit not technicalities.
“Staff of the tribunal are also not left out of the capacity inadequacy. To address this, we have sponsored staff within and outside the country to boost their capacity. We are trying to build capacity despite financial constraints”.
The Acting IST Chairman also lamented the scathing effects of the COVID-19 pestilence, saying it hampered the quick adjudication of cases.
According to him, under the enabling law establishing IST, the tribunal is mandated to commence and dispense with any case within three months, so avoid vandalizing investors’ confidence.
He regretted that the lockdown, occasioned by COVID-19, has left the tribunal not just with a backlog of cases to adjudicate but also how to continue and conclude cases already begun giving the lapse in timeline to conclude such cases.
Udunni listed the benefits of the IST over the years to include “its well-thought out judgments/decisions which have been able to establish necessary benchmarks for capital market operations, whilst entrenching a unique jurisprudence for the Nigerian Capital Market, by sanitizing the market, influence policies and engendering law reforms.”
The judgments he said “have not only had positive impacts on policies and reforms in the market but the IST model is today a template for Capital Market adjudication. This assertion has been variously validated by the affirmation of most of its judgments and rulings by the Appellate Courts.”
 |
|