Recently, Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state conferred the awards of Justice of Peace (JP) on his deputy, Barrister Bayo Lawal; Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Olubamiwo Adeosun, and 398 others.
A lot of people in the state and even in the country at large do not know the responsibilities and duties of the awardees. This piece will shed light on it.
There are numerous statutory functions of JP awardees. As a recipient of JP award, such individual has the constitutional power to prepare and sign an affidavit of any kind including change of name, loss of certificates, among others, before securing publication in recognised national dailies like Blueprint, Tribune, Nation, Vanguard, Independent, Daily Trust, Punch, Daily Sun, Business Day, Leadership, among others.
Settlement of tiff before it goes haywire or leads to distruption of peace in the society is one of the statutory functions they are charged or saddled with. Military personnel can only be intimated if the case is beyond what can be amicably settled by an individual being confered with the JP title.
Also, it is not beyond the power of those awardees to stamp and append signature on search and arrest warrants prepared by police officers.
For an individual to be awarded as the Justice of Peace, he/she must have formal education; he must have the ability to read and write. He/she should also have a modicum of legal knowledge, this will assist such a person in performing his functions without overlap.
With the above functions, one will observe that it is beyond an award that can be bestowed on a person who is ignorant irrespective of how influential the person is.
Congratulations to the eminent personalities newly confered with the title of Justice of Peace.
Olayode Inaolaji,
Ogbomoso, Oyo state
[email protected]
