DELTA State Attorney–General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ekemejero Ohwovoriole SAN, in this interview, spoke extensively on the series of training programmes embarked upon by the Ministry of Justice for its workforce, revealing that, arising from the work plans submitted by all departments in the ministry at the start of the year, he approved a training programme for the entire year to cater to both legal and non-legal staff. The programme also extends to all the zonal offices of the Mmnistry. According to him, other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) whose functions impact on matters handled by the ministry will also be involved in the training programmes. Likewise, other critical stakeholders in the Criminal Justice System. the Attorney-General reaffirmed, will be part of the regular capacity building to ensure that the state receives optimal benefits from its workforce. He spoke on this and other salient issues. Excerpts…
The Ministry of Justice has mapped out series of training programmes for staff his year. Can you explain the reasons for this?
The Ministry of Justice is undertaking a training programme for all departments in the Ministry, with the aim of keeping the staff abreast with the latest developments in their areas of specialisation so that they are not left behind. What we are doing is in keeping with the Governor, Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori’s M.O.R. E Agenda. Whatever your ideas are, without the personnel to carry out your decisions, of course, you are likely to encounter difficulties in the implementation.. We have, therefore, decided to implement training programmes for all the departments in the Ministry of Justice, to bring the staff up to date with current developments in all the areas they need to operate.
What are the category of staff benefiting from the training programmes?
The training programme covers all departments and staff in the Ministry, and it includes lawyers and non-lawyers. There are many things that we do here. Without the non-lawyers, you cannot achieve them. For example, after drafting court processes, you have to file the processes in the Court Registry and effect service on the parties in the case before you can make use of the document during court proceedings.
How can lawyers and entire staff benefit?
You are aware that the world is going digital, and the Ministry of Justice in Delta State is not left out. The digitisation process is being implemented in phases, and we have started with the office of the DPP. We are doing so much there to digitise their operations.
So, it is imperative that the staff are trained to keep up with the innovations there. Computer training is so important, and our goal is to achieve computer proficiency for all the staff in that department by the end of the second quarter this year.
The training programme of the ministry will cut across, not just departments but also across all the Zonal Offices of the Ministry in the State. We have eleven Zonal Offices across the State. The training has been deliberately designed to cover all the departments and zonal offices. If you have training in one department, and other departments are not trained, of what use will it be to the Ministry? In the end, you will find out that you lose all that you set out to achieve if you are not careful.
Apart from the training programmes for the year 2025, do you have other initiatives for staff in the months ahead?
The state government has many programmes in place already, to motivate the staff of MDAs in the State. All we are doing here is to ensure that we implement the programmes that are contained in our Ministry’s budget and work plan. You are aware that the Ministry of Justice has a work plan. At the beginning of the year, every department in this ministry was required to produce a work plan that fits into our overall work plan, and the welfare of staff was well catered for in the work plan.
The welfare of staff is paramount in the scheme of things because, without a good welfare strategy in place, your staff may lose the motivation required.
One of the objectives that I had when I assumed office was to ensure that no staff claim would be unpaid. I am happy to report that, as of today, nobody in the Ministry of Justice can say his claims are not paid on time.
For me, that is a good way to encourage the staff to carry out their duties effectively.
We pay their claims on time, we organise trainings and also pay for their training even outside the State. By doing the foregoing, we ensure that the staff in the Ministry of Justice are well motivated.
What is the commencement date and periods of coverage?
We have commenced the training since January 2025. It is not a matter of training programme coming up next week, or in April. It is a continuation of the training programme we have embarked upon at the beginning of the year.
Already, we have had trainings at the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Abuja, for our key staff in the department of Legal Drafting. We have had training for staff in the Civil Litigation Department in the area of pleadings. For next week’s training, we are going outside the Ministry to cover staff of the Ministry of Lands and Surveys. We work closely with that Ministry in the areas of land acquisition and payment of compensation.
If you get it right, you avoid so much cost in terms of litigation that could arise. So we are training, not just persons within the Ministry of Justice, but also those in other Ministries that work closely with us. That is to show you that the training is not just meant for any single individual; it is a holistic thing. The government is really interested in having all its workforce up-to-date because, no single department is independent of the other.
For example, the non-legal administrative staff that are coming for the trainings must be up to date in modern trends of record keeping in the digital environment we find ourselves.
Do you have a word for the Gov Sheriff Oborevwori administration for making all these possible?
We owe His Excellency a lot of gratitude for his support and the clear vision he gave us to achieve our purpose in the Ministry of Justice. All that we are doing is simply implementation of His Excellency’s policies, encapsulated in the M.O.R.E agenda of his administration. In the Ministry of Justice, we have a single purpose, and that purpose is to ensure that there is a robust legal framework to support the Governor’s M.O. R. E Agenda. As you know, once you have the rule of law in place, and there is prosperity and peace, every other thing will fall on place.
The Governor’s MORE Agenda is very clear. Without having a robust Ministry of Justice that is up to date and motivated, then of course, we may encounter difficulties in our bid to deliver the services required. Therefore, all that we are doing here is in accordance with the governor’s mandate.
The robust legal framework we are to provide generally covers two broad areas. These are the civil and criminal aspects of the law. In the criminal aspect, we have a Criminal Justice Law 2022 that is adjudged as one of the finest pieces of legislation in the country, and we are doing so much in its implementation. Our efforts in this regard are recognised nationwide.
As you are aware, currently, Delta State is number one in the country in implementing the provisions of the criminal justice law. We are ensuring that effective and speedy dispensation of justice in criminal matter is the norm. We have also put in place a system where we work closely with law enforcement agencies.
While we recognise that we do not investigate matters, we have, however, assisted the security agencies by providing them with tools to carry out investigations that comply with the requirements of the criminal justice law. If you have a situation, for example, where a suspect allegedly confesses to the commission of an offence, that in itself is not enough to say that the court will accept the confessional statement willy nilly. There is a crucial question to be asked. Was the confessional statement obtained in accordance with the requirements of the law?
Seeing that it is the duty of law enforcement to obtain confessional statements within the confines of the law, we also assist the police with training. Last year, we conducted a training for about one hundred and twenty Police officers and just last week, we supplied the Police with a large number of Compact Disks/ Flash Drives to enable them to have records of the confessional statements they have obtained.
In February, we were at the police Command Headquarters to commission the renovated and modernized interrogation room. That, again was one of our initiatives, though it was funded by the State Security Trust Fund.
How has the journey been since your assumption of office?
- My goal in the Ministry of Justice is to make it a professionally better place, with a workforce that is well trained and motivated. I say one simple thing to civil servants, and that is, the fact that you are a civil servant does not make you any less in your occupation than those who are in private practice. You must aim to be good, if not better than your contemporaries in private practice. For example, lawyers in the Ministry of Justice deal with tax matters that could have significant impact on the state’s finances. In that regard, it is so clear to see that you must have well trained tax lawyers in the Ministry who are able to compete favourably with their colleagues in private practice.
Actually what we do in the Ministry of Justice, as far as I am concerned, is as big as what any other chambers in the country is doing because, the volume of transactional documents that we have to prepare and monitor is as large as that which any chambers in the country is doing.
If you have staff who are not competing with their peers in private practice, then of course, the State may not get the best from them.
One of my main objectives and hope is that I leave the Ministry of Justice with the staff who are better than their peers in private practice in all spheres of legal practice, be it commercial, criminal justice or civil justice practice. That is one of my main objectives.
