5. Enabling Environment

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Civil Justice Transformation in Ogun State / 6. Enabling Environment

What are the barriers stakeholders see to effective delivery and scaling of civil justice services? What ways do they see to overcome these barriers?

Game-changing civil justice services may be public services, private services or public-private partnerships. Whether these models can succeed, will depend on the regulatory environment that may need to be improved. The strategy document mentions a number of laws and regulations that may need to be changed. At this stage of the process, not all regulatory impediments and needs could be identified. The following is an initial checklist of elements of an enabling environment for implementation which may need further investigation.

What rules are there for procurement of private services or private sector innovations that can be implemented in the public system? How can they be improved?
What are the rules for legal services? Are game-changing justice services allowed and can the legal profession participate in such services? Which organisational models are allowed?
Rules of procedure and rules about which problems can be solved by which courts or other institutions may have to be changed. What is required for such a change?
Budgeting systems may require attention as well. Revenue streams and investments in building better systems can be generated from the government budget, from citizen contributions, from local communities and perhaps from international donors or philanthropy. Social impact investors, and even private investors purely driven by the profit motive, may be an option.

For example, the Director of the Citizens Rights Department outlined a clear strategy to increase use of ADR in Ogun State. However, this would mean changing the rules about which problems are solved where.

We need to adopt the ADR method used in Lagos, so that all cases go through ADR first. This will help decongest the cause list. We will need an amendment of our procedural rules to effect this. (...) For instance, in Lagos, cases have to go through ADR first, then if it cannot be settled, the court proceeds with the full process.

Other experts also indicated more enforcement powers should be given to the multi-door courthouse or that the private sector could play a role. These are only some examples of changes in the regulatory environment that could be considered. The stakeholders may benefit from more information on these issues in the 2021 HiiL trend report, Chapter 7 on the enabling environment.