“Reform Notary Public”, SAN Urges the CJN

Lagos lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chijioke Precious Emeka, SAN has called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun to reform the process of application for appointment as notary public in Nigeria and the practice generally. The senior lawyer made the call during the swearing-in ceremony of 31 new notaries public in Lagos State, by the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Kazeem O. Alogba.

The solemn ceremony, which held earlier today at the Chief Judge’s Court in Ikeja High Court, also had in attendance the administrative judge of Ikeja Judicial Division of the High Court of Lagos State, Hon. Justice A. M. Nicol-Clay and several other honourable judges of the Court.

Earlier in his remarks, Hon. Justice Alogba urged the new notaries public to live up to the expectation of high integrity required of them as private participants in public service. Justice Alogba warned against sharp practices and incidents of attestation of fake documents by unscrupulous notaries. This he said contributes to Nigeria’s poor image abroad as most of the documents go beyond the shores of Nigeria.

In his vote of thanks, Chijioke Emeka, SAN, who spoke on behalf of the new notaries, thanked the CJN and his appointee, the Chief Judge of Lagos State for the public trust reposed in the new notaries and pledged to work with integrity. The senior advocate disclosed that he applied for appointment as notary public before he applied for the rank of senior advocate of Nigeria. However, while it took about four years of wallowing in the dark for the appointment as notary public to come, it took his SAN application only a few months of openness and clarity with the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) to come well ahead.

He therefore called on the CJN to issue comprehensive guidelines that will govern the application for appointment as notary public in Nigeria. The guidelines will also closely govern the practice of notary, the conduct of notaries public and disciplinary procedure for erring notaries. He said that the expected reforms will take care of a situation where an applicant for the appointment is left in the dark for several years about the fate of his application, create public awareness for the practice of notaries and the need to report erring notaries for sanctions.