Nigeria Senate Introduces Bill Seeking Legal Virtual Court Proceedings

By Nihinlolawa Akanke

The Nigeria Senate has introduced a bill seeking to legalise virtual court proceedings.
The Constitution alteration bill was read for the first time at the start of plenary on Tuesday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
The bill, sponsored by Michael Bamidele (All Progressives Congress, Ekiti Central), focuses on corresponding amendment of relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, in giving legal support to virtual court proceedings.

The bill titled 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Bill, is to amend Section 36(3) of the constitution by adding the below:
“Provided that nothing in this subsection shall invalidate proceedings of a court or the proceedings of a tribunal relating to matters mentioned in subsection (1) of this section (including the announcement of the decisions of the court or tribunal) where same is held by remote hearing or any virtual means now in existence or yet to be developed.”

Section 36 subsection(4) is also amended by the addition of sub-paragraph (c) as follows: (c) nothing in the foregoing paragraphs shall invalidate proceedings of a court or the proceedings of a tribunal relating to matters mentioned in subsection (1) of this section (including the announcement of the decisions of the court or tribunal) where same is held by remote hearing or any virtual means now in existence or yet to be developed.

And Section 36 subsection(12) is amended by addition of the following subsection (13): In this section, “remote hearing” means proceedings or hearing of court conducted via Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp video or any other social media platform or technological innovation.”
The sponsor of the bill also explained that section 36(3) is sufficiently controversial enough now in terms of the requirement of public hearing and determination of disputes, adding that, this , endangers the results of proceedings eventually held virtually and except the amendment is done urgently, the whole judicial functions of the nation will remain paralysed, stressing that, the bill requires expeditious consideration and passage.
The lawmaker said once copies of the Bill were distributed among senators, they would be able to make their further inputs if any, while the Bill would be subjected to public scrutiny through public hearing for stakeholders both from the bar and the bench to actively participate in fine-tuning it as a very important piece of legislation.