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Hassan El-Yakub SAN, Attorney General, Commissioner of Justice By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi
Bauchi State Ministry of Justice has been able to from just Three cases, between January 2023 to date, saved the state the sum N1,858,412,289.2k.
The disclosure was made on Friday by the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Hassan El-Yakub SAN during the turn of the Ministry in the ongoing Ministerial Press briefing holding at the Conference Hall of the Bauchi State Secretariat.
He also stated that, “Although the Ministry is a service rendering Ministry, the Ministry was able to generate the sum of N236,618,298 from drafting of Agreements and other legal instruments from 2023 to date.”
The Attorney General explained that, “Upon assumption of duty, I identified some of the challenges bedeviling the Ministry and which are responsible for the low rate of productivity and the negative perception of the Ministry.”
The identified challenges according to him included: Lack of sufficient man power, and Lack of basic working materials.
“I therefore immediately drew the attention of His Excellency to them and sought for his kind approval to employ additional Lawyers and provide laptops for the lawyers, Desktops and printers for all the Directorates and two photocopiers for the Ministry which His Excellency graciously approved and directed the immediate release of funds to that effect,” he added.
According to him,”After the acquisition of the above basic working tools, the morale and productivity of the staff naturally became extraordinarily high. We then devised new and more effective ways of defending the interest of the Government in all cases whether high or low profile.”
Hassan El-Yakub SAN stated that,”I am happy to state that this has started yielding the desired results. For instance, before my assumption of office all high-profile cases were given out to external solicitors, mostly Senior Advocates (SANs) and an average fee of N500,000,000 was spent yearly in settling their fees.
He stressed that, “This trend has now been reversed. We now handle all such cases in-house and thereby saving the state this huge amount.”
“We have also successfully defended most of the Garnishee proceedings/cases which have hitherto held the state to ransom and we have made it a policy in the Ministry not to allow under any circumstance such cases to reoccur in the future,” he added.
The Commissioner added that the Governor has approved the employment of 20 State Counsel, 10 in the previous year 2023 and additional 10 State Counsel in 2025 which has seriously addressed the issue of manpower in the Ministry
The Governor of has also reconstituted the Advisory Council on Preoperative of Mercy in accordance with Section 3 (1) & (2) of the Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy (Establishment) Law Bauchi State Law No. 10 of 2001 Cap. 114 vide a letter dated 6th December, 2023; Ref No. GO/GS/S/CMT/24/T.I
Following the reconstitution of the Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, the Council embarked on its exercise at the end of which the council recommended to His Excellency 106 deserving inmates for his pardon for which the Governor graciously approved the release of the sum of N20,000,000.00 and same was released for the conduct of the exercise
In view of the existence of the large amount of the Judgment debts which the administration inherited from the previous administration; the Governor has graciously approved and directed the release of the sum of N308,690,880.00 for the settlement and payments of the Judgement debtors in instalments.
He also approved the payments of 2023 Practicing Fees for all State Counsel of the Ministry of Justice just as Funds were released for the State Counsel to attend 2023 Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference Abuja.
Also, Azare Zonal Office of the Ministry which is not fully functional due to lack of infrastructural facilities; funds were approved for its renovation and provision of some basic amenities as well as for the purchase of new brand laptop of photocopiers in order to enhance the services of the State Counsel.
Funds were also approved and released for the payments of scholarship in respect of Bauchi State law students undergoing training at various law schools across the Nation and the purchase of the two cars for the Ministry of Justice was graciously granted.
