By Proceedings at Lagos High and Magistrates’ courts in Badagry were marred by power outage, which plunged the court rooms and offices into darkness since June 1.
A correspondent who visited some of the courts in Badagry, reports that judges and magistrates of the court were conducting proceedings with doors and windows to the courtrooms open, to let in light and ventilation.
The correspondent also observed that people who were in the courts to witness the proceedings were using hand fans while some were wiping their faces with hankerchiefs.
A member of staff in one of the courts who did not want his name mentioned, said that since the new government took over, the allocation to buy diesel to fuel generators for electricity supply had stopped.
“For the past 23 days, there is no power supply and the money to buy diesel that used to come from Ikeja has stopped.
“At first we were relying on inverters, but that too has stopped and since then the court has been operating in darkness.
“Most of the magistrates and judges in the courts are conducting proceedings in darkness.
“Most staff of the courts do not stay in offices due to the heat. They now spend time at a restaurant known as Court 7, which is opposite the court premises.
“The outage is really affecting proceedings and government should provide money to buy diesel because there is no power supply from Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC),” he said.
Mr Tunji Adams, a lawyer decried the outage in the court.
According to Adams, lack of power supply in Badagry has been on for years, but the courts have been depending on generators for alternative power supply.
“We do not know if the person in charge of diesel money has refused to send the fund down here.
“I am imploring the government of Lagos State, to as a matter of urgency, do something. This is very sad,” he said.
Efforts to speak with some of the Judges or Magistrates proved abortive as they all declined to comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, the management of EKEDC on Sunday, appealed to the residents of Badagry over the epileptic power supply being experienced in the town.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications, EKEDC, Mr Godwin Idemudia, said that the feeder supplying power to the town was grossly overloaded with transformers in Agbara.
