While signing the MoU at the NJC in Abuja yesterday, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed said the Memorandum of Understanding between the country’s judiciary and the Chief Justices of the Caribbean Community Countries will ensure the growth of the judiciary. The CJN said the idea for the project was conceived at the 24th World Jurist Association Congress held in Prague, Czech Republic in October 2011, where several countries discussed the strides made to introduce court technology. “Following an outstanding study and a report by the chairman, the Judicial Information Technology Policy Committee (JITPO-CO) was inaugurated in January 2012. Indeed, it was in that same year that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the National Centre for States Courts (NCSC) for the design and development of the Nigerian Case Management System”, Justice Mohammed stated. He said the software development, in collaboration with the NCSC and Microsoft International is a thing of pride to the Nigerian judiciary. According to the CJN, the innovative software, which has become a functional reality, will certainly transform the judiciary for posterity, if fully integrated. Justice Mohammed noted that, with the complexity of the 21st Century Word and common challenges facing humanity, the synergy shows how the judiciaries have come in furtherance of achieving the ends of justice. He said, “An effective justice system is one that upholds the four cardinal principles of Independence, Transparency, Accountability and Efficiency”, and further added that the principles provide the framework for the design, development and organisations of all judicial institutions. The CJN expressed the hope that collaboration between commonwealth nations will go along way in the efforts towards actualising the collective dream of a sound justice system. “I believe that technology will greatly enhance our ability to bridge the gap in between our aspirations and our actualisations”, he said. The Caribbean Chief Justices, who are on a four-day visit to the Nigerian Judiciary, arrived on 31st January, 2016. The visit is primarily to seek the assistance of the Nigerian Judiciary with respect to its recently developed Nigerian Case Management System software, which is seen as particularly more suitable for the judiciaries of developing nations.]]>