The Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioner (ALDRAP) has donated a computer-aided research centre to the National Judicial Institute (NJI) to aid prompt delivery of judicial judgment.
The Secretary of the association, Dr Tonye Jaja, at the unveiling of the centre in Abuja on Wednesday, said 10 computers with softwares were donated to assist judges in their work.
Jaja said the association would train researchers at the institute who would in turn, train judges, magistrates’ and court staff across the country.
He said states like Ogun, Nasarawa and Rivers benefited from the gesture in 2022, adding that the software was a tool that aided timely judgment.
”We started with a foreign technology company but because the cost was too much, so we thought of an indigenous legal technology tool that will ease the work of lawyers and judges.
”Ogun, Nasarawa and Rivers have accepted the software and have started using it since 2022.
”Now the NJI has come on board which is very crucial as they train all judges in all the states.
”In Nasarawa, before now, the drafting of bill usually takes months but now after training them and installing the software, within weeks they are through with it,” he said.
Also, the former chief of justice of the Gambia, Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle commended the association, saying the donation would bring qualitative job to the Judiciary.
Fagbenle said the centre and software would also help to overcome the issue of delay in the delivery of judicial judgment.
”The software can assist in the writing of judgment at a faster pace and this will bring mobile library into the room of every judge.
”So the judgment will be more qualitative and written within a shorter time and justice delivered on time, it will overcome the issue of delay.
”Africans recognise the giant place of Nigeria and with this happening in Nigeria, this will promote networking and interrelation with NJI’s within the African continent.
”So in no time, the technology will trend to the whole of Africa which is good news for Africa in short time,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NJI Administrator, Justice Salisu Garba, thanked the association for the research centre while promising to make good use of it in training judicial officers across the country.
Garba said that ordinarily, judgment was supposed to take three months after the conclusion of final addresses but with this, judgment would be delivered within a month. (NAN)
