Courts in Ogun State are not currently on strike, but lawyers in the state recently concluded a three-day boycott over controversial judiciary policies, including a ₦100,000 virtual hearing fee, increased affidavit charges and restrictions on the number of affidavits lawyers can file daily.
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The boycott, led by branches of the Nigerian Bar Association in Ogun State, including Abeokuta, Ota and Sagamu, disrupted activities at High Courts, Magistrates’ Courts and Customary Courts between Monday, July 6 and Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Although court workers were generally on duty, normal judicial proceedings were significantly affected because lawyers stayed away from court in protest.
In a video circulated online, some lawyers at the Sagamu court explained that their grievances were centred on three major issues affecting access to justice and the cost of litigation in the state.
Speaking in the video, S. E. Amos, who identified himself as Secretary of the NBA Sagamu Branch, said the first major concern was the ₦100,000 charged per virtual court sitting.
According to him, the amount is too high and unfair to litigants, especially when compared with Lagos State, where lawyers said virtual hearing costs about ₦30,000.
He said, “There is a policy or a rule that for virtual hearing, you are paying the sum of ₦100,000 per session. That is on a very high side. It is exorbitant.”
The lawyers argued that the fee becomes more burdensome because it applies per sitting and not per case.
They said where a matter, especially a contested divorce case, requires several virtual hearings, litigants may be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of naira before the conclusion of proceedings.
They also complained that where a virtual sitting fails due to network glitches, litigants may still be required to pay again for another session.
The lawyers said this would increase the cost of legal services and make access to justice more difficult for members of the public.
They noted that many divorce matters are filed in Ogun State by lawyers and litigants coming from Lagos, making virtual hearings important for convenience and effective case management.
The second grievance concerned the increase in affidavit fees following the introduction of e-affidavit processing.
According to the lawyers, affidavit fees which were previously about ₦200 have now risen to about ₦1,500, with service charges pushing the total to around ₦1,700 per affidavit.
They further complained that where an error occurs during online filing, the payment is not refunded, forcing lawyers or litigants to pay repeatedly until the process succeeds.
Amos said a lawyer could end up paying ₦5,000, ₦6,000 or ₦7,000 for one affidavit if the filing process fails multiple times.
The lawyers demanded that the affidavit fee be reduced to about ₦500 or less and that payments should be refundable where a transaction fails or an error occurs during filing.
They compared the situation to other online filing systems, where failed transactions or mistaken payments can be refunded after an application is made.
The third grievance was the restriction limiting lawyers to filing a maximum of four affidavits per day.
The lawyers said the policy creates bottlenecks, especially for law firms handling matters involving multiple witnesses or several affidavit processes in one day.
They also alleged that lawyers who wish to file more than four affidavits daily are required to register their firms with the judiciary and pay an annual subscription fee said to be about ₦40,000 or ₦50,000.
According to them, the restriction is unnecessary and should be removed or reviewed because it slows down legal practice and increases costs for law firms and clients.
The NBA branches demanded a reduction of the virtual hearing fee, a review of the affidavit charges, a refund mechanism for failed filings, and the removal or reduction of the daily affidavit filing limit.
The Ogun State Judiciary, however, has defended the policies.
The Chief Registrar of the Ogun State High Court, Olakulehin Oke, reportedly explained that the ₦100,000 virtual hearing fee was introduced to support the cost of digital infrastructure required to operate virtual courtrooms.
He said Ogun courts had handled hundreds of remote testimonies, including testimonies from international witnesses, and that sustaining such infrastructure required funding.
The judiciary also maintained that the increase in affidavit and oath fees was linked to the migration to electronic and digital processing systems, similar to systems used in states such as Lagos, Rivers and Oyo.
Following the end of the three-day boycott, courts reportedly resumed normal operations on Thursday, July 9, 2026.
However, the normal post-boycott window will be short, as the Ogun State Judiciary is expected to begin its annual legal year vacation from Monday, July 20, 2026, to Friday, September 11, 2026.
During the vacation, routine matters will be suspended, while urgent civil applications and criminal matters will be handled by vacation judges.
Full court operations are expected to resume on Monday, September 14, 2026, after the official opening ceremonies for the new legal year.
The controversy has again raised concerns about the balance between digital transformation in the judiciary and affordability for litigants.
While the judiciary insists that technology-driven reforms require funding, lawyers argue that the cost must not be so high that it discourages access to court or places an additional burden on litigants.
TheNigerialawyer is concerned about the growing trend where some heads of courts and ICT contractors present digital court reforms as innovation, but end up introducing costs that may limit access to justice.
Technology should make justice faster, cheaper and more accessible to ordinary Nigerians. It should not become a new barrier through excessive virtual hearing fees, affidavit charges, filing subscriptions and other digital costs that make it harder for poor litigants to approach the courts.
Judicial ICT development must serve the people and strengthen access to justice, not price citizens out of the justice system.
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