By Sylvia Kodilichukwu, Enugu
Cheery news came for residents of Enugu State as the State Government said it will soon set up a Rent Dispute Resolution Court (RDRC).
It explained that the court is to ensure that disputes arising from landlord and tenant matters would be disposed of amicably and on time too.
Chairman, Joint Committee on Housing and Foreign Investment, Judiciary, Public Petitions, Ethics and Privileges, Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Anthony Okey Mbah dropped this hint on Wednesday at a one-day Public Hearing on a bill for a law to amend the Landlord and Tenant(2nd Amendment Bill) (HB.3) 2025 held at the State House of Assembly.
According to Hon. Mbah, the establishment of the court would ensure that disputes arising from landlords and tenants are expeditiously disposed of in record time.
The lawmaker said the state is desirous to ensure that no tenant or landlord suffers unduly.
“We are very serious to make sure that noone suffers unjustly, both the landlord and tenant,” he said.
Hon. Mbah noted that some tenants rent houses only to use them to engage in criminal act, adding that there was need for house owners to know what their tenants are doing.
“This will help check crimes and criminality,” he said.
He also noted that tenants go through tough times to secure accommodation in the state, especially in the urban areas, because agents and landlords make things difficult for tenants by increasing rent and agency fees arbitrarily.
He pointed that with the establishment of the special court, tenant and landlords’ issues could be resolved within two to three months.
Speaking about the high rent in the city and the amendment bill before the Assembly, Hon.Mbah said that skyrocketing rents would no longer be tolerated.
“We cannot allow our people to suffer unnecessarily by paying caution fee, maintenance fees, lawyer’s fee and others, thereby making it difficult for the people to secure accommodation.
“We are going to do justice to the bill to have it passed. It affects everybody in the state. The arbitrary charges attached to rent is outrageous and it is affecting our people,” he said.
Participants who made presentations on the bill condemned the high rents and prayed the Assembly and government to do something about the scourge.
Representatives of the estate surveyors and valuers’ association, however, frowned at the attempts by government to force them and agents to get registered.
In a related development, Enugu State government has commended the Federal Government (FG) for approving the relocation of the Enugu Correctional Centre, located at GRA, Enugu, saying it is ready to partner with Abuja to actualise it soon.
The assurances were given by the State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, when he received members of the House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions in his office at Government House, Enugu, the state capital.
He told the team led by the Committee Chairman, Hon. Chinedu Ogah, that the state government had always advocated for the relocation of the facility, which was built in 1915, from the city centre to a more suitable location.
“It is highly commendable that the Federal Government has sanctioned the relocation of Enugu Correctional Centre. This is something we have been advocating for. So, I think you have a real partner in the state government, as we have a coincidence of objective. So, we are going to anxiously be waiting to hear from you on how you want us to engage.
“We already have a survey, which we have done and we are more than happy to share the survey of the new location with you and we will take you to that location to see for yourselves,” Mbah stated.
Mbah called for the automation of the justice dispensing system to reduce the congestion in correctional centres, highlighting his administration’s efforts to automate its justice system.
“On our part, we are not going to relent in the intervention we have made in the entire justice reform system. We have now fully automated our court processes and the idea is to ensure that there is speedy dispensation of justice because we also realised that a lot of the inmates we have in the correctional centres are those who are awaiting trial.
“If we can ensure speedy dispensation of justice, then we would also have to adjust these congested correctional centres significantly.
“That is essentially what we are doing with this automation of not just court processes, but also even the court proceedings. That is why I said full automation, because even the long hand is no longer required in our courts because we now have verbatim reporters. This is a process we had started a year ago. We are happy it is now coming to a conclusion stage,” Mbah explained.
In his remarks, Hon. Ogah commended Gov. Mbah on improved security of lives and property in the state, stressing that “people can now drive through Enugu State at any time of the day without any fear.”
He added that the state government’s investment in security technology and efforts of the correctional officers and security had ensured there was no jailbreak in Enugu State, lauding Mbah’s development strides, which he said were providing jobs, boosting economic development, and diminishing crime.
The Committee welcomed the governor’s proactive approach to relocating the correctional centre through the provision of the proposed new site and also sought the support of the government in the area of vehicles for the conveyance of inmates to and fro trial sessions.
