Virtual Court Proceedings in Nigeria: Some Legal Matters Arising

Ibrahim Sule, Femi Olorunyomi, Joseph Ajah and Adama Usman

European Journal of Law and Political Science, 2024, vol. 3, issue 3, 17-22

Abstract: The outbreak of COVID-19 brought about the hitherto uncommon practice of e-filing as well as the practice of virtual court proceedings in the Nigerian Judiciary in a bid to dispense with extremely urgent, essential, or time-bound matters. The Lagos State High Court had its first virtual or remote court hearing on May 4, 2020, where a driver, Olalekan Hameed, was tried, convicted, and sentenced for the murder of 76-year-old Mrs Jolasun Okunsanya virtually. In the wake of these developments, there have been legal debates on the constitutionality or otherwise of virtual hearings. This Article examines the debates on the constitutionality or otherwise of the Nigerian courts’ adoption of virtual court proceedings. The paper concludes that though utilizing the development brought by ICT, the internet, and associated technologies, virtual court proceedings, and e-filing are practicable and desirable, a lot needs to be done in terms of building the capacity of the Judiciary, amending the rules of court, the RPC, reviewing the curriculum of Nigerian Law School and in mandatory training of lawyers on the use of ICT in legal practice.

Keywords: ICT; internet; remote trial; virtual proceedings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epw:politi:v:3:y:2024:i:3:id:8091

DOI: 10.24018/ejpolitics.2024.3.3.91

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