Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Garki Branch, Abuja, Anthony Bamidele Ojo, has stressed the urgent need for Nigeria’s justice system to evolve with global technological trends to remain effective and relevant.
At the opening of the 2025 Law Week of the NBA Garki Branch, themed “Law, Technology and the Society,” Ojo said embracing digital tools could significantly accelerate and improve justice delivery.
He noted that the challenges facing the legal system stem not from a lack of laws, but from an entrenched mindset that requires a shift in orientation.
“Effective and speedy justice delivery through technology is achievable,” he said.
“When people talk about restructuring, I usually would say that we probably do not need new laws. Rather, we need to restructure our hearts, our minds to be open to making the legal environment, the justice environment, more amenable to changes and developments that are happening across the world.
And accepting technology as a tool to drive this is a major starting point.”
Ojo warned that Nigeria risks being left behind as legal systems around the world embrace artificial intelligence, remote hearings, and digital evidence procedures. He cited examples from countries like the UK, where such innovations are already being deployed in courtrooms.
He said, “We need to get to the point where we use technology and other necessary means to put an end to particularly long adjournments in court. It will reduce all sorts of excuses you hear. And then we also need to educate ourselves that not all cases, ordinarily, where judgment is delivered by the High Court, should go to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court. As it is said, there should be an end to litigation.”
Barrister Ojo noted that the Law Week theme was carefully chosen to reflect the urgent need for the legal profession to adapt to rapidly advancing global trends.
How said, “The theme for this year: law, technology and society is born out of the fact that law has developed through the years, and as the law develops, we as a country, as a nation, and as a society, have to keep up with developments around the world. We have to update our knowledge. We have to update our practice. We have to keep up, because the manner of improvement in technological development across the world is going at a geometric progression. And if we do not keep up with the development, we will be left behind.”
He further stressed that the challenge is about willingness, noting, “Some of us who are old school, who are still living in the past, we have to develop ourselves. We have to improve and make sure that we keep up because the world is running at a very fast pace. Just like the communications companies will tell you: data is life; you have to be on your phone around the clock.”
Ojo concluded that embracing innovation in the justice sector is not a luxury but a necessity. “If we are going to be looking for investors, then the investors won’t take us seriously if they see that we are still lagging behind.”
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