Digitalize Courts’ Proceedings Now, CSLS President, Akinseye-George, Charges CJN, AGF
…Baseline Assessment Report: Delta, Rivers, Nasarawa Top States With Most Effective Justice System In Nigeria
Daily Metro News NG
The President of Center for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS), Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George, SAN, yesterday call on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to fix a deadline date within which all courts in Nigeria would operate digitally.
Prof. Akinseye-George, SAN, said such move would help eradicate the issue of delay associated with justice delivery in the country.
Prof. Akinseye-George stated this during his opening remarks at the Joint Convocation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committees (ACJMCs) on the Review of the Implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act/ Laws).
The event was organized by the Federal ACJMC in conjunction with the Center for Socio-Legal Studies and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
The president who observed that the ACJA passed in 2015, has improved greatly Nigeria’s justice sector, however lamented that the issue of delays, absence of pre-trial case management and congestion in custodial facilities have remained a challenge.
“One way to tackle delay is to use technology more and more. I am appealing to the leadership of the Judiciary; the CJN and the AGF to set a deadline for all courts to digitalize, so that we can have e-filing, e-assignment of cases, E-recording of courts so that judges no longer have to write and write until their hands develop serious ailments”, he said.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who argued that almost all Nigerians today have adopted technology in their daily lives, wonder why technology have not been fully deployed in the justice sector.
Prof. Akinseye-George opined that digitalization of the courts would save a lot of time and enhance justice delivery, he commended Nasarawa State for taking the lead in that area with nine digitalized courts and the Federal Capital Territory, with four.
Besides the use of technology, Akinseye-George also advocated the development and adoption of a pre-trial case management system to address the issue of delays, adding that before a criminal case is filed in any court, the prosecution must ensure that they are fully ready to proceed with the prosecution.
“You don’t file a case and start looking for witnesses”, he said.
On the issue of congestion in custodial facilities, the CSLS President called for the reinvigoration of Section 34 of the ACJA that stipulates that magistrates visit detention facilities regularly to ensure that people who ought not to be kept in custody are not there in the first place or people should not be held beyond what the law stipulates.
Meanwhile, Delta State has emerged as the number one state with the most effective justice system. The state scored a total of 90.9 in the Baseline Assessment Report on the level of implementation of the ACJA/ ACJL.
While Rivers came second with 85%, Nasarawa came third having scored 82%. At the bottom are Ebonyi, 25.6%, Enugu, 25.2 and Oyo, 16.9 respectively.
Parameters used in assessing the states included the level of deployment of technology such as e-recording, e-filing, e-assignment of cases, automated court proceedings, case tracking/ management system, functional statement taking room, compliance with remand proceedings, existence of criminal register, abolition of lay prosecution, availability of legal aid, remittance of quarterly report of persons awaiting trial to the Attorney-General, witness protection and support amongst others.
The report however recommended the phasing out of lay prosecution by ensuring that only legally trained persons handle criminal cases.
The need to strengthen stakeholders’ coordination and integration of technology was also highlighted, including the need for functional date management and collation.