By: Imo Thomas -Umuahia.
The government of Abia state has stated that the ongoing reforms in its judiciary system, apart from building 17 modern courts across the local government area of the state, include the complete digitalization of the courts to make it 21st century compliant.
The information commissioner, Prince Okey Kanu, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of this week’s meeting, chaired by Governor Alex Otti, on Tuesday.
He said that apart from the MOU signed between the Abia government and JUSUN to end the ongoing face-off, the modernization of the courts to meet 21st-century compliance is part of it.
He said that the state government is committed to the agreement between it and JUSUN, adding that the delay in payment is due to the huge volume of paperwork involved and assured them that they will get alert to the arrears salaries owed them before the close of work on Tuesday.
Contributing during the press briefing, the Commissioner for Justice and the state Attorney General, Barr. Ikechukwu U wanna said that part of the agreement signed by the government and JUSUN is that the Union would go back to sensitize its members on the digital transformation of the judiciary so that the change that is meant would not make anyone unaware.
He said that the governor in October 2024 flagged off the construction of court halls in the 17 LGAs, adding that they are prototype court halls, very modern in their look and feel, and they are going to be sustained by renewable energy.
“The court when finished, the finishing and the need of the area will determine what it would be used for.
“The court halls are in different levels of completion, but they are getting on well, and we hope the contractors will deliver on schedule.
“The first phase in the court digitalization is the scanning of court documents from the probate registry to the high court to the magistrate court and customary court, arrangements have been made for the scanning of all those documents
“It doesn’t stop at scanning, then the documents would be properly indexed and stored.
“This is to ensure that whatever the document is, within a split second you can find it in the central storage system
“It also extends to the Ministry of Justice, actually the project has started.
“The second phase of the project is putting together an e-filing system, what is better called a court information management system
“What the system does is that a lawyer can sit down in the comfort of his office after preparing his processes. He will go up to the central judiciary website and will file those documents at the judiciary website.
“This is to make sure that it is easy for lawyers or litigants to have access to justice.
“The judiciary is being provided with the capacity to ensure that the hearing of cases is done either physically or virtually,” the commissioner for justice stated.
He also said the Judges’’ longhand writing,g, which affects their health and anslowsows down the administration of justice, will improve when this process is completed.
“They would not need to write in longhand because there would be facilities to ensure that there is a transcription of whatever is being said in court, and at the end of the day when the judgments are delivered, virtual or physically certified true copies of those judgments would be applied for online and would be received electronically.
“This ensures that the justice delivery system is totally transformed into using technology,” he concludes.
He said that the government strongly believes that this would make for an effective and efficient justice delivery system in the state.
