Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has said that virtual proceedings introduced to prevent a total shutdown of the country’s judiciary system as a result of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is constitutional and legal.
He spoke against the backdrop of fears expressed by some lawyers that the Supreme Court of Nigeria may quash virtual proceedings for being inconsistent with the constitution.
Falana contended that there is no basis for the fear as the National Judicial Council (NJC) headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad has enjoined Nigerian courts to conduct proceedings by zoom or skype.
He said in a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday that apart from such directive, the Supreme Courts of other common law countries are also hearing appeals via video conferencing.
He said the NJC has also endorsed the decision of courts to resort to virtual conduct of cases in line with the current practice in all common law countries.
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.
However, to prevent the quashing of cases conducted via zoom or skype, he said the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has introduced a constitutional amendment to the Senate to empower judges to conduct virtual proceedings.
He advised that since the amendment may not be passed so soon, Nigerian courts should continue to hear matters via zoom or skype or video conferencing adding that until necessary infrastructural facilities are put in place, judges should resort to oral procedure for purpose of tendering documents in evidence and cross examination of witnesses.
To buttress his submission, he referred to statement credited to Justice Okoro of the Supreme Court of Nigeria whom 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 is inevitable to beat the coronavirus pandemic, Falana gave statistics of cases decided in countries that have adopted the technology successfully.
According to him: “As of May 1, 2020, the Supreme Court of India has recorded a total of 22 days of hearing with 116 benches sitting to hear cases. There were 43 benches for main matters and 73 benches for review petitions”
While addressing criticism levelled against the possible extension of virtual hearings beyond the lockdown, the apex court issued a note, stating that public access to an open court system cannot be “unlimited and unregulated.”
