We Are Considering Establishment Of Digital Court Sitting — Justice Dongban-Mensem

The President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, has said that the Court will establish digital sitting

She said this during an interview with Daily Trust. She said all Court of Appeal Justices are computer literate but facilities are scarce that is why they still write in long hands

“All the justices of the Court of Appeal are computer literate, but being computer literate is not enough, computerizing the courts needs a lot of infrastructure and you know that we have issues with resources; we depend on what we are given as federal allocations and what we are given is not sufficient. We are hoping that with time we will be able to get all the infrastructure to fully computerize our courts.

“We want to assure you that we are very ICT compliant. The 2020 Annual Judges Conference was fully covered, people viewed the conference from all over the world live and the people who organised this are being considered to establish our digital court sitting.” Hon. Justice Dongban-Mensem said

Highlighting the importance of ICT, she said it will reduce perceived conflicting decisions in the Court of Appeal

She said judgements will be placed on the internet to be served on all other Divisions

She said, “As to the conflicting decisions, people do not understand that the Court of Appeal sits in 20 Divisions all over Nigeria. Facts may be similar but may not necessarily be the same but we are conscious of the fact that we do not contradict each other.

“With ICT, our judgments when delivered will be placed on the internet so that Divisions will be served. So that each Division will have an idea of what decision the other Division has taken. Don’t forget that we have a lot of work to do and it takes time to read and comprehend what the other person has done so we inform each other of at least summaries of our decisions and also activate our newsletter so that whatever decisions we are taking in the Division will be highlighted so that each Division will be well informed.”

Furthermore, Justice Dongban-Mensem called on the public to approach the ADR sections which are available in four Divisions of the Court of Appeal – Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and Port Harcourt.

“We actually have an ADR section in the Court of Appeal. People are welcome to approach our mediation centre which we have in four Divisions: Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kaduna (Unfortunately the Lagos division court was vandalised). So, you can come to any of these divisions if you would rather have your appeals determined by mediation which we highly recommend. You are welcome to approach our mediation centre and we would address them.” she said

She also called on the public to stop insulting the judiciary as work of judges is too demanding

She said, “I will appreciate it if Nigerians change their attitude towards the judiciary. Each judge, especially of the Court of Appeal sits down to hear appeals in the court, goes back to sit down and write judgments, it is not a matter of sending a note to a subordinate officer to go and do something. We write the judgments ourselves; we do research. I started work in the judiciary, proof-reading the judgments of judges of high courts.

“Today, I write my judgments and proof-read, correct and pass it over to my colleague. So, you have to share your judgments with your colleagues to read; it’s a collective decision. So, there are a lot of demands on the judge and I expect the lawyers to be a little bit more committed. The court cannot function well without the lawyers and we appreciate the efforts of a good number of them who are totally committed, but a few more can do better for the judiciary to move forward.

“People should stop insulting the judiciary, we deserve a lot better.”