CJN urges adoption of digital technology for effective justice delivery

• Nigeria moves for electronic civil registration, vital statistics

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, yesterday, charged stakeholders on adoption of digital technology for effective and efficient justice delivery in the country.

He gave the charge while commissioning a digital courtroom for the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The digital courtroom is one of the nine pilot projects undertaken by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to metamorphose the court from papers to electronics.

Represented by Chairman, Judiciary Information Technology Committee of the NJC and Chief Judge of Borno State, Justice Kashim Zannah, the CJN urged all high courts at the state and federal levels, to embrace digital technologies for an efficient and effective judicial system.

The unveiling, which is to mark the court’s 2021/2022 legal year, Muhammad added that the digital courtroom, “is one of the nine courtrooms of the federal courts retrofitted by the NJC, across the nation, serving as an example to be emulated by the states and indeed, the federal courts for quick justice delivery.”

The CJN explained that the idea to digitise the Nigerian justice system preceded the COVID-19 era.
SIMILARLY, the Federal Government has said Nigeria is set for digital Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (eCRSV).

Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja during the presentation of eCRSV Operational Readiness Assessment Report, with the theme, “The Implementation and Future State Vision for Digitised CRSV System in Nigeria.”

Represented by one Victoria Ojogbane, the minister said the programme was indicative of the Federal Government’s commitment towards integrated civil registrations and vital statistics system to foster implementation of the United Nations legal identity agenda geared at ensuring that every child at birth was allocated an identifiable number to facilitate registration, identification and issuance of birth certificates for effective administrative management.

In his remarks, Chairman of National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isa Kwarra, said the essence of the presentation was to enhance CRSV coverage in Nigeria.

Also speaking, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Deputy Representative in Nigeria, Rushnan Murtaza, restated the global agency’s commitment to attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and strengthening of a functional civil registration and vital statistics system in Nigeria.