Remote Court Proceedings in Nigeria: Justice Online or Justice on the Line

Abstract

Remote court proceeding (RCP) is in its developing phase in Nigeria and whilst RCP is a laudable initiative, it must align with the tenets and principles of law that holds firm at traditional physical court hearings. The important goal being to achieve justice at all time. In that wise, RCP should not be a weapon that sacrifices justice for speed but that which achieves justice speedily. This paper focuses on the adoption of RCP in Nigeria, the areas in which the RCP rules may be at cross purposes with the existing traditional court room practices, conducts a risk benefit analysis of the innovation and identifies areas of improvement. A number of challenges were found to be associated with RCP particularly the admissibility of public documents and the existence of a digital divide. The paper observed the need for training and infrastructural support and recommended same amongst other recommendations.