The Nigerian Judiciary is facing significant challenges, including court backlogs, systemic inefficiencies, corruption, and limited access to justice, particularly for rural populations, despite its crucial role in upholding the rule of law and administering justice.
Protracted delays in resolving cases, sometimes taking years or decades, have led to widespread public dissatisfaction, threatening to erode trust in the judiciary, with over 90 per cent of judges still taking records of proceedings in longhand.
A common expression heard in many superior courts of record, including the Supreme Court, is "Please take it slow; I am writing, or don't you want me to capture everything you are telling the court?", highlighting the outdated and inefficient manual systems still in use.
From overcrowded courtrooms to missing case files, the judiciary faces numerous operational hurdles that make timely justice a daunting task, with many heads of courts acknowledging the need for digital solutions to enhance efficiency and accessibility.
On April 16, 2018, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, admitted that the country's rapidly growing population has placed the judiciary under pressure, urging judges to embrace technology to meet the enormous challenges of 21st-century dispute resolution.
Justice Onnoghen emphasized the importance of technology in transforming the manner in which activities are carried out in courts, including service of court processes, record keeping, and retrieval of data, and other operations, globally.
He urged judges to ensure they are proficient in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), stating that ICT proficiency will become a prerequisite for career advancement within the judiciary in the near future.
On May 22, 2017, Justice Onnoghen advocated for modernizing judicial practice and procedure across the country's courts through the deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), to keep in tune with modern techniques in the administration of law and justice.
Credit is due to Justice Onnoghen's predecessors, who identified the need for holistic judicial reforms that would lay the foundation for the eventual automation of court systems, including the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar.
In November 2014, Justice Mukhtar commissioned a $20 million court automation project, including two data centres at the Supreme Court and the National Judicial Council (NJC), aimed at improving efficiency, access to justice, and public trust and confidence.
The project was expected to provide a solid foundation for a fully automated court, with Justice Mukhtar noting that it takes time, patience, and determination to achieve technological excellence, citing the example of South Korea's judiciary.
The then Chief Judge of Borno State, Justice Kassim Zannah, who was Chairman of the Judicial Information Technology Policy Committee (JITPO-COM), hoped the Nigerian Judiciary Court Automation Project would ease the burden of advocacy and adjudication in the country.
Justice Zannah noted that the project aimed to reduce the backlog of cases, increase transparency, and enhance court performance, with a key consideration being value for money, and that the National Centre for State Courts had granted the Nigerian Judiciary ownership of a commercial-grade court case management system.
However, more than 12 years later, it appears that the enthusiasm for court automation has not translated into much pragmatic action, with full implementation of the Judicial Information Technology Policy still facing infrastructural deficits and funding challenges.
Successive judicial leaderships have complained about the paucity of funds, despite the supposed financial autonomy of the judiciary, which still relies on the executive arm of government for its fiduciary needs.
The Nigerian Case Management System (NCMS) was introduced at the Supreme Court in 2012, and later underwent user acceptance testing at the Court of Appeal and other pilot courts, generating international interest and visits from chief justices from the Caribbean.
The Nigerian Legal Email System (NILES) Project was also introduced, providing a secure means of communication between the Supreme Court and lawyers, with over 25,000 legal practitioners registering within months of its introduction.
Globally, countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and Singapore have adopted digital courts, harnessing technology to address the limitations of traditional systems, with the COVID-19 pandemic further accelerating the shift to remote hearings and electronic filing.
The incumbent CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has constituted a Special Committee to recommend innovations to restructure and sanitize the Litigation Department of the apex court, making court processes more accessible and less cumbersome.
A Court Records Processing Unit was created, merging the Process, Records, and File Units, drastically reducing incidents of missing files, while a Central Information Unit was established to provide quick access to case details.
A Case Continuation Unit was created to ensure timely handling of adjourned matters, and a robust tracking system now monitors file movement, virtually eradicating file losses.
Additional reforms include digitization of the Receiving and Data Entry Units, reorganization of the Registry, and creation of a Disposal Unit to archive concluded cases and transfer them to the National Archives.
The Court's Enrolment Unit has been integrated with the Nigerian Law School through an online platform, and the Notary Public Unit has transitioned to a streamlined online application system, providing a faster and more convenient experience.
The Electronic Notary Register (ENR) has been introduced as the Supreme Court's official digital register for certified notaries in Nigeria, ensuring accuracy, security, and accessibility while maintaining compliance with applicable legal standards.
The Nigerian Case Management System (NCMS) is being progressively adopted, designed to digitize the entire spectrum of case handling, facilitating seamless transmission of files and reducing physical interactions and procedural delays.
The Supreme Court is transitioning to a comprehensive e-filing system fully integrated with the NCMS, with a dedicated module being developed to enable lawyers to upload backlog documents for existing appeals directly through the NCMS portal.
A Practice Direction outlining the onboarding process and application usage will be issued ahead of the official launch, guiding stakeholders through the new digital system.
The Federal High Court has announced April 24 as the final date for manual filing of new cases in its Lagos Division, with all new filings to be conducted exclusively through the e-filing platform from April 27.
President Bola Tinubu has emphasized that every digital effort by the judiciary must be targeted towards efficiency and ease of access to justice, ensuring that courts become beacons of efficiency where disputes are resolved swiftly.
Comments
Please login to leave a comment.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!