Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has called on the nation’s judiciary to embrace technology and innovation, not only for the evolution of the profession and national development but also to ensure that the country’s justice delivery mechanism is run on a system of enforceable, discernible laws and efficient institutions.
Osinbajo stated this in a pre-recorded speech on Monday as a guest speaker at the 2021 Annual Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Lagos Branch, with the theme ‘Disruption, Innovation, and the Bar’.
The Vice President noted that questions also need to be asked about the readiness of our profession to engage in new markets as presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“Already, Nigerian banks and financial services are crossing borders in Africa, acquiring banks in several African countries. So, the African Continental Free Trade Area will open new trans-border commercial opportunities, and the profession should pay attention to the rules of engagement for legal services and how they may propel businesses.”
According to the Vice President, innovation in Nigeria’s legal profession requires urgency in both thought and action, especially in a world that currently thrives on a knowledge economy, and where some jobs, including legal jobs, are being threatened by digitization and Artificial Intelligence, AI.
He cited the example of how continuous improvement in the quality of smartphone cameras disrupted global sales of digital cameras, the VP observed that now “Artificial Intelligence is commonly used to perform tasks such as legal research and due diligence, document and contract review, and the prediction of legal outcomes – these are tasks that would have been performed by lawyers.
While speaking on the issue of delay in the country’s justice delivery process, Osinbajo further noted that the country’s judiciary ought to find ways to tackle jurisdictional challenges, particularly delays in court judgments, among others.
The Vice President also noted that the Law week, as well as future engagements, provided an opportunity for some reflections by legal practitioners.
He commended states including Lagos that have embraced innovation and issued practice directions that permitted virtual proceedings during the pandemic lockdown, which he noted was “in line with the commitment the Chief Justice of Nigeria made recently to a full-scale digital revolution in the judiciary that would guarantee electronic filing of court processes, virtual hearings and delivery of judgments.”