Meet Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips whose integrity, diligence has earned her a place in the judicial system hall of fame

Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips (RTD) is currently a member of the Adjudicatory Chamber of FIFA Ethics committee; an Ex-Chairman, Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission; a certified arbitrator and a retired Chief Judge of Lagos State. Being the 14th Chief Judge and 4th female Chief Judge of Lagos State, her Ladyship held several Commission judicial positions on the Bench such as the Chairman, Panel of Enquiry into the sale of the Lagos State Government Shares in Eko Hotels Ltd; Member, Advisory Committee of the Nigerian Rule of Law Assistance Project hosted by the National Centre for State Courts, Washington DC and USAID; Member, Election Petitions Tribunal, Rivers State; Member, Election Petitions Tribunal, Adamawa State and Head Judge, High Court of Lagos State. In this Interview with OMOLOLA DEDE ADEYANJU, Her Ladyship gives insight to how she has become a THRIVING WOMAN in the judicial system.

As a wife, a mother, a grandmother, how have you been able to manage your career and family?

Well, with the proper plan and strategy you can balance your career and home. When you are young God gives you the strength, the hormones to do the needful. When you are married with a child or children, your routine changes as you must fit your children into your daily plans. I used to wake at 4am to prepare for the day. Do your best to prioritise what is important. Going to parties is not important at such a stage of life.’

What was your greatest challenge in the judicial system as a Chief Judge?

My greatest challenge was trying to speed up the system of the filing of court processes, I wanted so much for lawyers to be able to sit in their offices and file documents from their chambers because it would have reduced traffic to the high court’s cash office and would have reduced the level of perceived corruption as I heard that people were not being given their change when payment was made. Like when you are to pay N490 and you pay N500, you don’t get your N10 balance with the excuse that there is no change, the change goes into the cashier’s pocket, that was what I heard. The best thing is to curtail cash payments. We succeeded in curtailing it to an extent in that Lawyers could file online from their Chambers then go in to pay and this sped up things a bit. There were other challenges such as public infrastructures, toilet facilities and my efforts to ensure the premises were clean.

Government should be a continuous thing, I don’t believe in dismissing what my predecessor has done but most people when they get to offices, they tend to brush away all the predecessor has done; no continuity in projects and all the money gets wasted, they then embark on schemes they cannot complete and this leads to a lot of wastage in government. Unless it is a ridiculous or unaffordable project, there should always be continuity in government as it will also help avoid a lot of wastage.

Speaking as the former Chairman for LASIEC, what can you say in respect to the system of voting? Why are we yet to commence E-voting in Nigeria? Can we blame this on lack of continuity?

It is something that has to be reintroduced to the government. When we started in 2016, it was a 5-year Tenure, the first election we had was that of the local government and after the four years, we had the next one. In between that time, for the second one we tried to introduce E-voting but I must say that it is a very expensive one. You see how much money INEC spent on the last general elections, it runs into billions and billions of naira, and everyone gets very suspicious when we hear about such a huge amount allocated for a project.

Kaduna state has a device like an iPad used for only verification and accreditation purposes. I would like a system of voting whereby voters just go in, the names of candidates appear on-screen, you just click on the one you wish to vote for and at the end you are issued a receipt to show that you have voted.

However it will take a lot of technical infrastructures, a lot of funds, a lot of training and of course it has to be well planned for; this may also take some years to put in place.

Can you highlight your innovations, contributions and achievements while you were the Chief Judge?

I retired 9 and a half years ago. That is way too long for me to remember. I’m not good at blowing my own trumpet. I prefer people telling you what I did.

I concentrated on staff welfare, the structure, facilities and more. When you make your findings, you will surely get a load of that.

Your father was a Judge and you also became a Judge, can we say a career in the judiciary runs in the family?

My younger sister, Justice Atilade, is also a retired Chief Judge of Lagos state, my first two children are Lawyers, one as a magistrate and the other in the private sector. My niece also is one and she works in the oil and gas sector, we are now looking towards the grandchildren to see if they will continue with the profession but definitely the love of this career runs in our family.

Do you see checks and balances amongst the arms of government effective in Nigeria?

It is not very effective but effective to a certain extent. I will say this advisedly because our Democracy is still growing, we should keep teaching and sensitising the people about democracy and their rights in the country, it is a continuous process.

Checks and balances in Nigeria work when it wants to and doesn’t work if we don’t want it to. And it depends on all the players on stage at that time as we are ruled now by the political class so it is any drum they play we dance to. It is when they want to apply it that they do so.. It is right for people we put in power to check for us but we also have our own power to check them too.  For instance constituents have the power to recall our representatives when necessary if things are not going the way we want them to. I am yet to see that work in Nigeria though.

What was your key to a successful career? You know so many people started well but didn’t finish well.

I do say this, it is better to realise when you are appointed into an office that you are there as a public servant to the people. You don’t go beating your chest that you can bully your way through the tenure. If you do so, you will crash and burn, you need the help of those you met there who know the inner workings of that office to guide you. If you are a listening leader, they will like you and want you to succeed. Especially when working with civil servants; They know the right way, the wrong and the way in between that you can never be caught.

If you are lucky, they will show you the right way but if you are not, they will leave you to fail in an unseemly manner. They will leave you to make errors and to face the problems alone. So if you want to be successful, show a willingness to learn, like a nursery pupil wanting to learn the alphabet. You also have to be very prayerful, I was very prayerful when I was Chief Judge, I asked God to give me the wisdom of Solomon. Anything that belongs to the staff, give it to them, do not deprive them of their rights and entitlements. There are several allowances you get legitimately as a leader so be content, lack of contentment kills careers.

Furthermore, you need to protect your integrity because there is still life after you leave that position. It is when you leave that you will get your report card. If you comport yourself well, you will retire well, otherwise when you leave you will realize nobody really cares for you, it’s not only in Nigeria that this happens as it happens all over the world.

What is your rating for the incumbent administration in Nigeria?

It is normal for people to agitate but it will be unfair to rate the president now because he inherited a very difficult situation in the country and with what I hear in the news, it is not something that will be very easy, he’s just approaching the second half of his first year so it will be unfair to rate him now. There are things I thought he would never act upon but he acted so he has shown that he is a listening President. Let us give him a chance. Everyone is feeling the downturn of the economy, now it is not only the poor people, the rich and the middle class are all feeling the difficulties in the country.

Let’s talk about your current post. What have you been up to since your re-election as the FIFA ethics committee adjudicatory chamber member?

The committee is a panel of people elected to sit over any case of corruption or criminal cases committed by FIFA officials. So far, we have sat over several cases Internationally but when it comes to Africa I am excluded from those panels  to avoid any conflict of interest.

What are your views on the just concluded African cup of nations?

I am very happy with the Nigerian team and I hope and pray that they will bring the Cup home. Mr President has done excellently well by paying all the allowances that were owed so I expect them to put their hearts and souls to the match.

As a thriving woman, what is your word of advice to the younger women looking to thrive in their various careers, balancing family management with career?

The Bible says he who holds the plough should not look back, once you intend starting a family, that should be your primary focus and your career of course is also important to a certain extent. I am not saying it is easy but with prayers, diligence and with subtlety you can achieve a balance. At that time I used to wake up by 4:00 a.m. and then we made use of reusable nappy towels that we have to wash, bleach and hang out to dry but today you make use of disposable diapers that you don’t need to wash so life has been made easier.

You just have to set your heart to building your home. Be diligent, faithful, loyal, and dedicated. Leave the parties and nightclubs for now and face your home, it is only for a short time so you can enjoy the future. You also have to be less materialistic.

What is your advice for the upcoming and practicing Judges?

They should keep on working hard and doing Justice. Many Judges have a very heavy caseload  but if you judge each case on the facts before you the job becomes much easier and  straightforward and then you will be protecting your reputation. They are all in my prayers and they will finish well by His grace.

How about delayed judgement?

Delayed judgment doesn’t happen in Lagos anymore. We have amended our Civil Procedure Rules, introduced the fast-track courts and the LSG has passed into law the Administration of Justice Law to ensure that justice is obtained much faster now. When I was first appointed  in 1994, there were such cases of delay, now justice delivery is much faster.

What’s your view on domestic violence, gender inequalities, child abuse and the likes?

We have family courts and special courts handling criminal matters. People accused of rape are now being tried and sentenced to life imprisonment without any delay. This sends a signal to all that there is now zero tolerance in Lagos State to any reported case of domestic violence.

There is also a sexual offences register, before anyone is employed into any school, or place where vulnerable people are, they should be properly vetted and verified to ensure that such a person has never been convicted of any sexual offence.

What is your current engagement now? What are you into?

I’m a Consultant now, I do Arbitrations, Mediations and I am also enjoying my retirement.