The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen reiterated the need to “ensure progressive upgrade of the judiciary especially in areas of administration, practice directions, independence of the judiciary and contributing significantly to the fight against corruption.”

He explained that efforts were being made to put in place an Information Communication Technology-driven court system.

He also disclosed the plan to  constitute “a National Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure” in order to enhance the administration of justice in the country.

Justice Onnoghen said the committee would be made up of judicial officers, legal practitioners from the local chapters of the Nigerian Bar Association, academics and the National Judicial Institute.

Giving a hint of the task lying ahead of the committee, the CJN emphaised the need to introduce e-filing in the courts’ rules and practice direction.

He said, “The Rules of practice and procedure should make provision for concessionaires to handle the service of court processes and documents. Also, the Rules of Practice and procedure should provide for e-filing to be done either by courts or by external management service providers.”

He added that there was a need for regular updates of courts’ websites, stressing also that “there must be computerised records in each court.”

The CJN said entries must also be made and posted on the website of the judiciary, “where information on the type of cases, progress made, judgments etc., can be accessed anywhere in Nigeria, weekly, monthly or quarterly.”

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Paul Usoro (SAN), also made similar call during the Federal High Court’s special court session to mark the commencement of the 2018/2019 new legal year.

Lamenting the absence of basic information about the Federal High Court such as statistics of the cases being handled by the court on the court’s website, Usoro recommended that “in the interest of the public, the publication of such material information, data, statistics relating to the court’s activities on a regular basis should, at the minimum, regularly be on the court’s website.”

Reiterating the need to deploy technology in the court system, the CJN said “It is obvious that the conventional method of justice delivery in Nigerian courts today is cumbersome, time-consuming and susceptible to loss or theft of court documents.”

He said,”With e-justice system, case management will be auto­mated, payment of fees will be made through dedicated websites to reduce corruption, and forms that simplify and streamline court proceedings will be available to court users online.”

Reeling out the achievements of the Supreme Court in its bid to achieve an IT-driven court system, Justice Onnoghen said, during the 2017/ 2018 legal year, the court achieved some milestones, including retrofitting the Supreme Court, “which has made all court proceedings to be available on High Quality Video Format with FTR Recording Equipment.”

He also said the court had as from July 16, 2018 commenced the implementation of serving hearing notices through the Nigeria Legal Email System.

According to him, 23,000 lawyers have been registered for the email and 18,000 already activated the platform.

He said with the Supreme Court now present on social media with functional accounts on Youtube and Twitter, there would be “effective dissemination of information on Supreme Court of Nigeria operations and events”.

The CJN also disclosed that the Supreme Court was contemplating strengthening the appellate system “by enabling applications for leave to appeal, where applicable, to be dealt with in chambers.”

The CJN also reiterated the need for courts to  impose punitive fines on lawyers who filed frivolous applications to delay cases.

The Supreme Court has already started this, with the court only in March this year, imposing a fine of N2m on a lawyer, Mr Tolu Babaleye, for filing a frivolous appeal to delay the hearing of an appeal filed by a former Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who was then challenging his suspension by the Green Chamber for 180 legislative days.

The CJN said he believed “we have reached that stage in our legal system where it is needful for our rules of court and procedure to provide for the award of punitive or wasted costs by the court for frivolous litigation or delays caused by counsel.”

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