DRAFTING: FORMAL DOCUMENTS/APPOINTMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS
Minutes is a summarized record or written summary of the points discussed at a meeting, that is, an official written message.
Here are some tips in writing effective meeting minutes.
1. Know the purpose – Before writing minutes, you must know the purpose of it. First, a report of meeting minutes is a record. But it is just not the type of record you write, print out, file and then forever forget. It provides a historical account of official business and operational decisions, and involvement of people making the decisions. It is used as a reference which is periodically, or frequently referred to. Sometimes, minutes of meeting can become a legal document and evidence in court.
DRAFTING: FORMAL DOCUMENTS/APPOINTMENT AND
DISCIPLINE OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS
MINUTES OF A MEETING
Minutes is a summarized record or
written summary of the points discussed at a meeting, that is, an official
written message.
Here are some tips in writing
effective meeting minutes.
1.
Know the
purpose – Before writing minutes, you must know the purpose of it. First, a
report of meeting minutes is a record. But it is just not the type of record
you write, print out, file and then forever forget. It provides a historical
account of official business and operational decisions, and involvement of
people making the decisions. It is used as a reference which is periodically,
or frequently referred to. Sometimes, minutes of meeting can become a legal
document and evidence in court.
2.
Keep it
concise – Keep the key information in order and make sure you don’t miss
critical info. You only have certain limited time and it will be impossible to
write every single thing discussed during a meeting. So, keep it concise, i.e.
compact and short. Take notes of the issues discussed, major points raised and
decisions taken. Make sure what you write will be easily understood, and usable
in the future. Keep in mind many of the meetings require the attendees looking
back at the previous meeting’s minutes. So if people can’t read them, it will
amount to a waste of time.
3.
Get the
right info and follow the right format – To keep it short, here are list
information that should be in your minutes of meeting: Time, date and venue of
meeting; List of attendance (and their position); Agenda of meeting – key
agenda, details, and specific action plan, and owner/executor of the plan; and
the name of person taking minutes.
4.
Keep a
record – Normally, after minutes are hand-written, they are transferred
into a proper computerized document (e.g. Microsoft Word or Excel), properly
restructured, save and printed out. Good and fast typists can immediately
record conversation into the computer/laptop, where this requires less time for
fine tuning later on. The minutes are then distributed among the attendees of
the meeting, or those who will be responsible to take actions as regards to
what is discussed during the meeting.
It should be noted that minutes
are not verbatim of what transpired at a meeting but abstracts of a meeting,
therefore, there should be no verbosity, and obiter dictums should be avoided.
The basic contents of minutes are:
1.
Date
2.
Type of meeting
3.
Venue of the meeting
4.
Attendance at the meeting
5.
Agenda of the meeting
6.
Any other business (A. O. B) that is not
included in the agenda.
7.
Closing.
The drafting rules of minutes are –
1.
It should be a simple language
2.
It should be clear
3.
It should be precise
4.
It should be proof-read.
CURRICULUM VITAE
This is a brief
account of a person’s qualifications and previous occupations, sent with a job
application.
Vitas and
resumes both have similar purposes – as marketing documents that provide key
information about your skills, experiences, education, and personal qualities
that show you as the ideal candidate. Where a resume and curriculum vitae
differ is their use, format, and length.
Curriculum
Vitae – often called a C. V or Vita – tends to be used more for scientific and
teaching positions than a resume. Thus, vitas tend to provide great detail
about academic and research experiences. Where resumes tend toward brevity,
vitas lean toward completeness.
Unlike resumes,
there is no set format to vitas. While vitas do not have the one-page rule of
resumes, you need to walk the line between providing a good quality of depth to
showcase your qualifications and attract potential employer interest and
providing too much information thus appearing verbose and turning off potential
employer interest.
An effective curriculum vitae should have
the following:
1.
Name
2.
Address (home or permanent, not P. O. Box)
3.
Telephone and e-mail address (if any)
4.
Sex
5.
Nationality
6.
Schools attended
7.
Academic qualifications with dates
8.
Courses attended
9.
Work experience
10. Hobbies
11. Referees
QUALIFICATION AND PROCEDURE FOR THE
APPOINTMENT OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS
QUALIFICATIONS
The post-call
qualification requirement for appointment as the Chief Justice of Nigeria or
Justice of the Supreme Court is a period not less than 15 years – section 231(3) of the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN)..
For the President of
the Federal Court of Appeal or Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal is a
period not less than 12 years – section
238(3) of the 1999 CFRN.
For the Chief Judge of
the Federal High Court, Chief Judges of States and Federal High Court Judges
and State High Court Judges is a period not less than 10 years – section 256(3) of the 1999 CFRN.
For the Grand Kadis of
the various Sharia Court of Appeal and other Kadis they need to have obtained a
recognised qualification in Islamic personal law from institution approved by
the State Judicial Service Commission and must have held such qualification for
a period not less than 10 years and he either has considerable experience in
the practice of Islamic personal law or he is a distinguished scholar of
Islamic personal law – section 276(3) of
the 1999 CFRN.
In the case of the
President of the Customary Court of Appeal and the judges of the customary
court of Appeal, they need apart from such other qualifications as may be
prescribed by the National Assembly considerable knowledge of and experience in
the practice of customary law for a period not less than 10 years – section 281(3) of the 1999 CFRN.
PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT
At independence in
1960 the criteria for the appointment of a Judge either in the High Court of
the regions or the Federal Supreme Court was ten years post-call experience.
The appointing-body except for the Chief Justice of the Federation and, the
chief Justice of Lagos High Court and Regional Chief Justices was the Judicial
Service Commission (J. S. C) either of Federal or State region. Under the 1963
Constitution the Judicial Service Commissions were abolished. In its place we
had the President and the Governors acting on the advice of the Prime Minister
and Premiers respectively as the appointing bodies. A body similar in some
respects with the Judicial Service Commission was re-introduced by the Military
in the name of Advisory
Judicial Committee, this was
a welcomed gesture. The 1979 Constitution introduced some innovations. The
Chief Justice of the Federation was to be appointed by the President in his discretion
but this was subject to confirmation by simple majority in the Senate. Other
justices were appointed on the advice of the Federal Judicial Service
Commission subject to confirmation in the Senate. Same practice was followed in
the appointment of the President of the Federal Court of Appeal. In the case of
other Federal Court or-Appeal Justices and also the Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court and the other is judges of the Federal High Court there is no requirement
of approval by the Senate.
At the State level
apart from the Chief Justices of the various States, the Grand Kadis of the
Sharia Court of Appeal of the States where they exist and the President of the
Customary Court of Appeal in States where they also exist, whose appointments
require approval by the simple majority in the respective state Assemblies. The
other Judges, Kadis and Judges of the Customary Court of Appeal are appointed
on the recommendation of the respective State Judicial Service Commissions.
Recommendation
to the Head of the Executive Arm of Government, for either appointment or
removal from office of any Judicial Officer in both the Federal and the State
Judiciaries, constitutionally, shall come from the National Judicial Council.
Taking into
account the fact that the responsibility for a dependable Judiciary for the
country rests with the National Judicial Council, the Council was of the view
that it must design Guidelines to ensure that the Judicial Service Commissions
at both Federal and States, including the Judicial Service Committee, FCT,
Abuja, are directed and assisted in the manner they select candidates for
submission to NJC for recommendation of appointment. Most importantly, the
procedure will guarantee a uniform standard at all levels.
The Guidelines were designed to ensure
that:
1.
The selection process is transparent and
provides a level playing ground for free and fair selection for the best candidates
to emerge;
2.
The selection process guarantees independence of
Judicial Service Commissions, excludes lobbying by potential candidates or any
one on their behalf and prohibit imposition of any candidates on Judicial
Service Commissions as well as prohibit them from accepting imposition of
unsuitable candidates from any quarters; and
3.
decision of all those nominating and or
recommending candidates to National Judicial Council take fully into account
the necessity for the candidate to have high integrity and good reputation;
track record of intellectual capacity, competence, hard work and industry in
the legal profession; record of reasonable successful background in legal
practice as private legal practitioner or State Counsel or service in the Lower
Bench and commitment to justice and absence of likelihood of bias on the
grounds of tribe, ethnicity, religion, politics or gender.
Therefore the
following procedure, attached hereto, shall be complied with by the Federal and
State Judicial Service Commissions, as well as the Federal Capital Territory,
Judicial Service Committee, in their submission of nominated candidates to the
National Judicial Council for appointment to judicial office.
The procedure to be followed are:
1.
Letter of intention alongside the Governor’s
approval shall be forwarded to the Secretary of the Council;
2.
Minutes of the meeting of any Judicial Service
Commission or Committee for the nomination of candidates for appointment to
judicial office must be forwarded in 30 copies to the National Judicial Council
addressed to the Secretary of the National Judicial Council. This would enable
the National Judicial Council have the benefit of the full discussions and the
reasons that gave rise to the nomination, preference or rejection of the
candidates considered by the Commission;
3.
The Chief Judge must, as a first step, clear the
number of Judges to be appointed with the Governor before commencing the
processes of identification and screening;
4.
In making the nominations, the State High Court
Judges must be fully involved (by making individual nominations and attaching
same to the Chief Judge’s final nomination to avoid sharp practices) and must
take into consideration, as much as possible, professional expertise; seniority
at the Bar or the Bench; Federal character or geographical spread; consultation
where necessary without compromising the cherished independence of the
Judiciary or allowing politics to permeate or influence the appointment of
judicial officers; avoid recommending any person whose reputation in the
locality had been tarnished;
5.
Candidates whose names are forwarded must
undergo medical tests and attach evidence of same;
6.
Candidates’ Curricula Vitae must be attached
along with their Bio-data (NJC Form A);
7.
Each of the Candidates nominated shall submit
along with his/her Credentials, ten (10) Judgments, obtained or delivered in
contested cases in any given past two (2) years, which shall be confirmed by
the Head of Court/the Chief Judge;
8.
Candidates from the Bar are to submit their
Practicing fee receipts for Five (5) years;
9.
A security report from the State Security
Service; and
10. Comments
from the State Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association on the person(s) so
nominated.
The following should however be noted –
1.
The number of candidates nominated must be
doubled in case any of the first set of nominations being disqualified.
2.
On the issue of precedence, only the
Attorney-General (Federal or State) should take precedence over others to be
appointed and sworn-in on the same day.
3.
As much as possible, Governors should ensure
that essential facilities (such as cars, accommodation, etc); would be made
available to the Judges upon appointment.
4.
There should be no lobbying by candidates.
5.
That since not all the Chief Judges of the
States are members of the National Judicial Council, it would be necessary to
invite the Chief Judge of the State (if not a member) whose candidates would be
considered by the Council, to participate in the deliberation on such
nomination, whenever necessary;
THE GROUNDS AND PROCEDURE FOR DISCIPLINING
JUDICIAL OFFICERS
The National
Judicial Council (NJC) also in exercising the powers conferred on it by Paragraph 21 of the Third Schedule to the
1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, takes disciplinary
actions ranging from warning, compulsory retirement and dismissal from office
of erring Judicial Officers who are found guilty of judicial misconduct.
The rules
guiding Judicial Officers is the Code of
Conduct for Judicial Officers for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This shall
be summarized below.
This Code,
hereto forwarded, provides for a uniform, dignified and respectable mode of behavior
by Judicial Officers nationwide. It is divided into different Rules which guide
and shape the conduct of the Judicial Officers. Violation of the Rules, elicits
disciplinary action, leading to removal from office of any defaulting Judicial
Officer. Some of its main features are stated hereunder.
A Judicial
Officer should live above reproach by ensuring that his conduct both in his
official and unofficial capacity, utterances and social relationships, are not
susceptible to any iota of doubt. In performing his duties, a Judicial Officer
is expected to be courteous, fair and firm to all manner of people without fear
or favour and also, avoid the abuse of power arising from issuing interim
injunctions, ex parte. Furthermore,
he should be alive to his official duties by complying with the provisions of
the constitution regarding his responsibilities in court. A Judicial Officer
should also endeavour to be punctual and sit regularly while avoiding
unnecessary adjournments.
In performing
his administrative duties, a Judicial Officer should maintain professional
competence, observe high standards of fidelity and diligence and request his
staff and other court officials to do same. He should not be a member of a
tenders board or engage in the award of contracts and avoid any form of sexual
harassment.
While in
office, a Judicial Officer is prohibited from accepting chieftaincy titles and
serving as the executor, administrator, trustee etc. of an estate unless for a
family estate and where it would not interfere with his judicial duties.
While a
Judicial Officer can accept personal gifts or benefit from relatives or
personal friends on occasions as recognised by custom, books on complimentary
basis or loan from a lending institution following due process, he is
prohibited from accepting a gift or favour on account of the discharge of his
official duties. Neither is he expected to practice law or act as an
arbitrator.
Judicial
Officers who flagrantly violated the provisions of this Code of Conduct, had
been sanctioned and removed from office; such as Hon. Justice Egbo Egbo of
Federal High Court, and Hon. Justice Stanley C. Nnaji of Enugu State High
Court; to mention but a few.
REMOVAL OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS
A judicial
officer shall be removed under section
292 of the 1999 CFRN if –
1.
He is incapable of performing his duties;
2.
He has attained retirement age; and
3.
He is involved in any form of misconduct.
As for the format, there is
no school of thought that says there is this or that specific format that you
need to follow. What you need is a simple and user friendly format. You can
follow the following format:
SAMPLE OF MINUTES OF MEETING
Company : Forsell Consultant
Date :
08 January 2010
Time :
10am to 12am
Venue :
Command Center, Forsell HQ
Attendees :
1.
John McClane : Branch
Manager
2.
Jacklynn Victor : Principal
Consultant
3.
Luke Jane : Senior Consultant
4.
Salamon Selamat : Field
Consultant
5.
Bijalo Bijalo : Senior Marketing Executive
6.
Mimz Mimz : Operations
Executive
Agenda:
- Proposal to organize
Career Talk in Polite Johor
- New recruitment drive
and strategy
- General (other)
discussion
1. Proposal to
organize Career Talk in Polite Johor
This is an initial
discussion to follow up on Polite Johor's invitation for Forsell Consultant to
hold a Career Talk in their college for graduating students in Diploma and
Certificate. On Monday, the Dean of Polite Johor contacted Forsell's office and
has asked Forsell for event proposal (RFP).
a) Event
structure – 2-day event to be held on weekend. Actual dates TBA and to be
decided by event committee. Possibility to extend other students and graduates
from other schools and tertiary institutions.
b) Formation
of Secretariat – Bijalo elected as Event Director, and to be assisted by Mimz
as assistant. Bijalo and Mimz to appoint committee members and announce in 2
days. =Committee to have first meeting in 3 days. Other meeting attendees to
leverage assistance and brainwash ideas.
c) Sub-events
– 8 events have been suggested, 4 have been agreed - Resume Workshop,
Presentation from a MNC's representative, Motivation Talk, Exhibition. Mimz and
committee to present to the management details of event proposal. Upon all
agreement, committee is to hold progress meeting once a week until the event
takes place.
2.
New recruitment drive
Company's expansion has resulted in
the need for additional staff and consultants. Discussion was aimed to draw
strategy for attracting new personnel and talents.
a)
Issue and scenario – Bijalo suggested Jane to implement
new strategy and plan to capture new talents in the company. According to Mimz,
existing strategy is not bearing fruit and not meeting expectation. Salamon and
Siti endorsed Bijalo's suggestion.
b)
Brainstorming new strategy – 10 new strategies are
brain stormed, 3 were agreed upon. The 3 are:
- Going
TV – Bijalo to check the pricing and process with a number of TV stations
- Radio
Advert – Victor to check pricing and process with a number of radio
- Internet
Banner Advertising – Mimz to discuss with a few internet ads companies
and shortlist a minimum of 3 advertisers.
c) New hires training and
competency – All agreed current training program for new hires is not effective
due to short duration (2 days). Unanimous decisions agreed on 2 principles:
i.
Training period to be extended to 1 week
ii.
Last 2 days of training is to be conducted by external
consultant. A mini meeting to be scheduled in discussing the consultant's
appointment
3. General
discussion - For any other issues raised (A.O.B)
a) Flexible working hours –
Salamon raised suggestion for company to allow flexible working hours by
employees. Reason: different staff performs their best at different time. Mimz
& Bijalo disapproved but the rest said the idea should be accepted as a
possible implementation. Mimz to raise the issue to the country management and
discuss.
b) Hospital visit – As one of
the staff, Rihanna, Staff Manager is hospitalized, a visit has been agreed
which is 10 January 2010.
Meeting was adjourned at 12am. Next meeting is
scheduled a week from now, that is, 15 January 2010, same venue and time. All
owners of designated actions are to present their feedback.
Minutes prepared by:
Signature ______________
Luke Jane
=
SAMPLE OF CURRICULUM VITAE
FIRST NAME: Bijalo
OTHER
NAME: Mimz
MARITAL
STATUS: Single
DATE
OF BIRTH: 15th
January 1940
LOCAL GOVT. AREA: Bwari L.G.A
STATE
OF ORIGIN: Bontutu
State
QUALIFICATIONS
OBTAINED WITH DATES
INSTITUTION DATE AND YEAR
· ABC
Nursery and Primary School
Lagos State. 1987 – 1992
First school leaving
certificate
· Lawyers
Government College
Abuja. 1993
– 1998
Senior Secondary Certificate
Examination
· Corporate
Law University
Abuja 2002
- 2006
Law (LL. B)
OBJECTIVES
- To
contribute effectively, strive for excellence and to execute planning
objectives for your firm at all times.
JOB
AND WORK EXPERIENCE
· Owambe
Constructions, Lagos State
Industrial Training 2004
-2005
· National
Youth Service Corp
United Grammar School
Otondo
State
Intro. Tech. Teacher 2007
– 2008
·
Batt Integrated Services Ltd.
Yemen,
Abuja.
Site Manager 2008
HOBBIES
· Football,
Dancing, Traveling and Reading.
SKILLS
·
Proficient in data management packages (Ms-Word,
Ms-Excel, Power-point) and working with the internet
·
Good communication skills
·
High level of integrity and reliability
·
Construction minded, dynamic and quick in
grasping new concept self-motivated and confident
REFEREES
Mr. Bijalo Abx Mr.
Mimz Qrt
QVIJ
Ltd Business
Developement
Bontutu
State National Energy Assurance
08036367377
Otondo State.
08022550477
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