Jurisdiction of Magistrate and Upper Area Courts on punishment upon summary conviction of persons in Nasarawa state has been increased.

Other jurisdictions increased are those of District Courts that sit on civil cases, as well as Area Courts including Upper Area Courts, which now have powers to entertain civil monetary claims.

These were contained in the 2010 legal notice number 1,2 and 3 of Nasarawa state issued in Lafia.

According to the legal notices which was signed by both Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma and the Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, the reviewed jurisdiction took effect from June 2010.

Already, copies of the reviewed laws have been distributed to magistrates, judges of upper area courts, district court judges and judges of area courts grade I to guide the operations.

Meantime, the Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, Justice Ahmed Ubangari has decried the increasing rate of crime in the state, saying the review of the orders was necessary so that people can take some correction.

The Chief Judge made this known while addressing members of the lower bench, magistrates, sole judges and members of the Nigerian Bar Association at the high court, hall I in Lafia.

According to Justice Ubangari, “the rate of crime is getting  on and on and I consider it very necessary to review  these laws so that people can correct some societal ills.”

 He said the increased powers was aimed at decongesting the busy nature of the high courts, adding that, responsibility goes with caution in their part so that, some was not abused.

This, he said was done in order to motivate the judges in the state to sit up in their responsibility, as well as to ensure that  justice was brought closer to the people.

According to the legal notice number 1 of 2010, Chief Magistrates courts in the state and upper area courts have their powers of punishment on summary conviction increased to a maximum of four years imprisonment, N10,000 fine or 12 strokes of cane while other categories of magistrates had theirs increased to three years imprisonment, N8,000 fine or ten strokes of the cane.

However, the power relating to punishment of canning shall apply only to persons below 18 years  of age.

Before now, a chief magistrate’s court power on punishment had N4,000 fine or 3 years imprisonment, while other categories of magistrate courts were limited to a sentence of N4,000 fine or 10 strokes of cane or 3 years imprisonment as maximum punishment.

District court orders which dealt with civil matters now have their jurisdiction in terms of monetary powers raised to N500,000 for senior District Judges, N300,000 for District judges I while District Judge II have maximum monetary powers of N200,000 and N100,000, respectively.

The jurisdiction of upper and grade I area courts in terms of monetary claims which hitherto was N100,000 and N50,000, have now been raised to N500,000 and N200,000 respectively. Similarly, that of Area Court grade II is now raised to N50,000.

The amendment now pose a challenging task to both the magistrates District Courts and Area Courts Judges who now are to operate under heavier responsibilities.

Justice Ahmed Ubangari said “the idea of giving you this extra responsibility is to move justice closer to the people so that they don’t travel longer distances to get justice. The rule of  law should apply to everybody irrespective of his or her status.”

The Chief Judge further warned that any abuse of these powers would not be taken lightly and pledged to supervise the usage of the reviewed laws.

He urged them to behave responsibly and show a sense of maturity in handling of cases before them, stressing that any judge found wanting would have himself to be blamed.