Stakeholders advocate training of judicial officers on virtual proceedings
STAKEHOLDERS have advocated adequate training of judges, lawyers and other judicial personnel on the use of modern technologies for the adoption of online and virtual court hearings.
This, according to them, would not only fast track the dispensation of justice, but also help in developing the justice administration system.
They made the call at the opening ceremony of a twoday workshop for judicial workers in Ogun State on “Electronic Evidence and Imperative for Online Court Hearing”, held in Abeokuta, the state capital.
The workshop, which was attended by judges, court registers, lawyers and other judicial personnel, was organised by Attorney General Alliance - Africa ( AGA- Africa) in conjunction with the Ogun State Government.
Those who delivered lectures at the workshop were Justice Bonaventure Mbewe from Zambia, Chief Anthony Idigbe ( SAN), Ogun State High court judge, Justice Eniola Fabamwo and Justice Alaba Omolaye- Ajileye, among others.
Delivering his lecture, Justice Mbewe insisted that Nigeria and indeed Africa, were ripe for the adoption of virtual court hearing.
Mbewe stressed the need for collaboration among African countries to share knowledge and experience on digitilisation of court proceedings.
He said: “We need to engage our judicial workers more in training on how to use these equipment, let us embrace the technologies, let us teach ourselves, because they are not going to go away.
“Virtual hearings are here to stay, the sooner we embrace them, the better the administration of justice will become.
“I encourage Nigeria to learn as much as you can from other jurisdictions. I encourage you, my brother and sister judges to talk among yourselves on how you can improve, how you can deploy technologies to assist you in this area.
“I believe the first thing that Nigeria can do is to interact more with other jurisdictions to learn from what oth
ers are doing.
“Virtual trial is a phenomenon everywhere, it is the way to go, it will speed hearings, eliminate unnecessary adjournments and face- toface court processes.
“To go virtual in court proceedings is possible, but it is not something that can be done in a day, we can start small and then build on whatever we have.
“It is implementable, in my view within the next three to five years, we should all be there where we can say we are dispensing justice virtually.”
In her welcome address, the Chief Judge of Ogun State, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, said the outbreak of COVID19 pandemic had forced many judges in Nigeria to adopt online court hearings.