Digitization: NITDA Begins Capacity Building for Appeal Court Justices

Digitization: NITDA Begins Capacity Building for Appeal Court Justices

TECHDIGEST  – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in collaboration with the Court of Appeal, has commenced a comprehensive capacity building for its Justices with the aim of protecting the country’s democracy and security.

The 4-Day Capacity Building with the theme: ‘IT Infrastructure and Digital Governance’ organised by NITDA for justices of the Court of Appeal, began on Monday, in Abuja.

In his remarks, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami said that the collaboration between the two entities became necessary in view of the increasing threats associated to ungoverned spaces around the globe.

The Minister, represented by the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi, described the training as timely, and explained that the judiciary have a critical role to play in the actualization of the Nation’s digitization.

“It is imperative for the Judiciary as a strategic partner in the development of the Nation’s economy to fully embrace the adoption of ICT in order to improve its work processes and enhance productivity”, he said.

He noted that the ungoverned space of the digital age has given rise to challenges and it was important for all Justices to be proficient in the use of digital tools to ease their work processes, safeguard their data and make decisions easily.

“The ungoverned space in the digital age has been a big challenge to the security and democracy of our dear Nation and you are the only people who can help our democracy and our nation in this regard”, Pantami stated.

Speaking further, the Minister said digital technology can be used for operational excellence as well as for business innovations, adding that technology has been impacting democracy and the civil justice.

Emphasizing that technology is being relied on for information security, the Minister said, “We live in an era whereby things that happen online have physical presence in our offline world”.

The Minister also noted that the Judiciary plays an important role in translating laws, in this regard, to ensure that anything illegal offline must also be illegal online and vice versa.

He noted that technology, needed to be used as an unprecedented approach to solve unprecedented problems.

The Minister, therefore, urged the Justices to harness the potentials of the digital technology in order to derive maximum benefits for the Judiciary system.
“These technologies are unprecedented, changing everything and disrupting the way we do things, so we need to use our law to solve these problems”, he averred.

“You need to understand the use of digital technology and translate the laws so that we can build systems with justice in our minds because soon enough, most processes will be automated and systems will be making decisions for us”, he concluded.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the DG NITDA, Kashifu Abdullahi, expressed delight at the training session and ascribed it to a giant step towards the realization of a digital transformation in the Judiciary sector.

He disclosed that the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) unveiled and launched by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is geared towards making Nigeria a digital country and achieving a 95% digital literacy by 2030.

“Our aim is to ensure that irrespective of your age, educational level or affinity, you should be able to use digital devices to access government services which include social justice”, he stated.

Abdullahi expressed confidence that the partnership with the Court of Appeal will ensure that every staff in the court becomes digitally literate for improved efficiency in court processes.

“The Ministry and Agencies under it are ready to partner with you to see how we can harness these digital technologies and use them to promote our democracy and National Security”, he concluded.

Also speaking, the President, Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, appreciated the intervention of the Minister and NITDA DG in organizing the all-inclusive training which she claimed would be enlightening to the Justices and ease their work.

“With this training starts the partnership that will ensure that the Judiciary, particularly the Court of Appeal stays on top of ICT development in the country and the world at large”, she said.