Court Processes Invalid If Signed By Electronic Means

#OBSCURELEGALFACTS by Arome Abu

COURT PROCESSES INVALID IF SIGNED BY ELECTRONIC MEANS.

In 2015, Electronic Signature became a legally recognized means of authenticating documents in Nigeria.

WHAT IS E-SIGNATURE?
Electronic signature is a digital version of a traditional pen and ink signature.

Under the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, there are limitations to documents E-signature can validate.

The following documents are not valid if signatures on them are appended by Electronic means. They are:

(1) Wills
(2) Death Certificate
(3) Birth certificate
(4) Court processes and Judgments
(5) Marriage Certificates

These species of document have to be manually signed with the hand to gain validity.

SEE Section 17 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention) Act 2015.

Examples of electronic signatures include:

(1) A scanned image of a person’s ink signature

(2) A mouse squiggle on a screen

(3) Hand-signature created on a tablet using your finger or stylus

(4) A signature at the bottom of your email

(5) A typed name

(6) A biometric hand-signature signed on a specialized signing hardware device

(7) A video signature

(8) A voice signature

(9) An “I Agree” checkbox, etc.

Arome Abu is the Managing Partner of Abu & Olaniyan Partners.

CAVEAT: Note that this information is provided for general enlightenment purposes and is not intended to be any form of legal advice.

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