FCT CJ, Charges Judges To Be Technology-Driven As He Unveils Speech Recording Machine & Video Transcription System

The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Ishaq Usman Bello, on Wednesday, inaugurated a digital speech recording machine and video transcription system for quick and efficient court proceedings, declaring that with this judges will no longer write in longhand.

Speaking during the inauguration Justice Bello stated that technology had become an integral aspect of daily living, adding that the earlier the judiciary leverage on technological advancements, the better for it as “it has become glaring that technology was now and the future.”

According to the CJ, the court, which he described as the epicentre of legal contestation, was striving to meet the demand of time by leveraging on technology to make it work easier and justice more accessible.

“It is on this note, that the court which is the epicentre of legal contestation is equally striving to meet the demands of time by leveraging on available technology to make work easier and justice more accessible in a healthy and friendly atmosphere,” Justice Bello said.

He submitted that the tradition of judges writing in longhand made proceedings slow and sloppy, coupled with its health hazard on them.

Bello added that it is the duty of the court to see to the expeditious and fair determination of disputes in such a manner that inspires confidence.

The CJ stated that giving this important role of the court, it would not be out of place for it to take a leading role in deploying technology with a view to facilitating its core mandate of determining disputes as quickly as inexpensively possible.

“It has been the tradition of judges to write in longhand. This makes proceedings slow and sloppy not to talk of the health challenges it poses over time such as me scale soreness, back pain, numbness in the arms and fingers and pain in the shoulders to mention but a few.

“Like every other institution, courts are made up of people and our duty is to see to the expeditious and fair determination of disputes in a manner that inspires confidence.

“Judging by this important role, it is not out of place for the court to take a leading role in ensuring the responsible deployment of technology, in the area of our expertise with the aim of facilitating the success of the court’s mandate which is determining disputes as quickly and as inexpensively possible,” he said.

He declared that it was against that backdrop that the FCT judiciary had commenced the digitalisation of its courts, adding that with the complete audio/speech to text transcription solution, judges would no longer take proceedings in longhand.

“Permit me to acknowledge that speech-to-text is not only a growing technology worldwide. It is packed with massive potentials to fundamentally change the way things are dining in our courtrooms today.

“In simple terms, this is a technology that records the audio content of court proceedings and then converts these audio contents into typed words,” he informed.

According to the CJ, what was stalled additionally had the ability to make the content available for playback at any time and from anywhere.

He added that: “A judge can watch, replay court proceedings at any time, fast forward, pause and even assess the demeanour of witnesses from his comfort zone.”

The system, Justice Bello informed, was supported by a 2 Terabyte server and additional cloud storage.

He declared that the system would not only save the time and energy consumed by judges while writing and taking notes in longhand during trials but also speed up proceedings by the freed time being put into more valuable uses.

“It will be impossible to miss words and important details as it is sometimes the case while taking notes by hand,” he said.

The CJ, however, noted that there are challenges with the system, including the issue of different accents, speech patterns and cadence and homophones.

Justice Bello then disclosed that the installation of the speech-to-text system was the first step to complete digitisation of the FCT High Court, informing that the next step would be the online filing of cases and visual hearing platforms.

Explaining the application, the project consultant, Ms Joycelyn Adah, said that the call for innovation to accelerate the delivery in the justice system cannot be over-emphasised.

She informed that the system would record and convert speeches to the text as well as store the original record with up to 70 per cent accuracy.

“This Application will be able to accurately record and convert speech made in the courtroom to text, it will also automatically generate a text document once speech commences.

“It will store the original record and transcribe the speech into equivalent text with up to 70 per cent accuracy. It also has a video component that comes in handy in this era of migration to virtual Courtrooms,” the consultant stated.