Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) said on Tuesday that virtual proceedings introduced to prevent a total shutdown of the country’s judiciary system...
Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana said on Tuesday that virtual proceedings introduced to prevent a total shutdown of the country’s judiciary system as a result of the coronavirus pandemic are not illegal or unconstitutional.
He argued that the proceedings of a court cannot be impugned if litigants and their counsel as well as members of the public are allowed to participate in them via zoom or skype. To buttress his submission, he referred to statement credited to Justice Okoro of the Supreme Court of Nigeria who he said rightly observed Nigerian courts cannot but take cognisance of the fact that we are in an “age of prevalence of information technology”.To support his position on why virtual proceedings has inevitable to beat the coronavirus pandemic, Falana gave statistics of cases decided in countries that have adopted the technology successfully.
He noted that apart from one state high court that has conducted a criminal trial via zoom, others have limited virtual proceedings to motions and cases that can be determined on the basis of affidavit evidence. He recalled that before the coronavirus pandemic, the rules of procedure and practice directions issued by heads of courts have provided for e-filing and e-service of processes as a result of which it became mandatory for counsel to furnish the courts with their emails and telephone numbers. Thus, hearing notices are served on lawyers and parties by emails or whatsapp.
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