Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, has listed strong will, discipline and innovation as critical to the effective administration of the justice system in Nigeria after the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Fagbohun, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was the Guest Speaker at the 2020 Knowledge Sharing Series, a virtual lecture organised by the LASU LAW Alumni Graduate Class of 2001.
Speaking on the theme, “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Administration of Justice in Nigeria: What does the Future Hold?,” the learned silk decried the suspension of court sittings in the country pursuant to the directive of the CJN as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, without clear guidelines and directives that will ensure that the wheel of justice does not grind to a halt.
Drawing from examples of global best practices as have come to the fore in jurisdictions such as Dubai, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Kenya and Ghana, Fagbohun identified four commendable global justice system responses : suspension of in-person proceedings to safeguard people’s health ; implementation of technology tools to continue proceedings in urgent or necessary situations; keeping track of proceedings that are daily being postponed; and pro-active thinking on such issues like effect of statute of limitation and forfeiture as may arise post COVID -19.
He reminded the over 100 participants that the Lagos State Judiciary started well on the path of technology, but somewhere along the line, the challenge of continuity of policies clearly stagnated innovation.
The LASU VC said, “There is also the need for an audit of processes and operations to know whether the different activities are on track.
“In the Lagos State Judiciary, online listing of cases, Case Management System, E- filing system, use of verbatim recorder among others were already in use for quite some time.
“For as long as Nigeria continues on the same path as is currently, administration of justice will continue to fail on deliverables.
“As things currently stand, post-COVID-19 in terms of civil/criminal cases already affected leave no room for optimism. Deliberate pro-active strategies must be put in place to change the paradigm.”
He noted that COVID-19 is a wake-up call for Nigeria, urging the Judiciary (lawyers and judicial officers) to fully go digital.
“The Judiciary in Nigeria must fully go digital. It is not rocket science and enough of excuses. Let us have robust and open internet access in all courts. There are existing templates that will guide digitisation of court processes,” he said.
He also took a swipe at legal practitioners and judicial officers who have turned the courts to theatre of repression and injustice, saying, “For as long as we tolerate indiscipline, Nigeria’s Judiciary will continue to wallow in failure. We must advance the highest standard of conduct among lawyers and judges.”
