Brave Dickson
As Nigerian judges continue to write record of proceedings as well as judgments manually, despite the current digital era, experts have identified its dangers on Justice delivery.
In an interview with our correspondent, a Port Harcourt based legal expert, Barr Dan Oguowere x-rayed some dangers of manual writing popularly called writing with long hand especially as it affects litigants.
According to the legal expert, writing with long hands can contribute to series of adjournments.
Barr Oguowere said, “if unforeseen occurrence such as rain or fire destroys the manually recorded proceedings, it means that affected parties may start de novo (afresh).
“When matters are adjourned incessantly because of manual writing, litigants in most cases end up spending more money on appearance and filing fees.
“To the judges, manual writing is very stressful as it takes more of their time to write what technology would have made faster and less time consuming.
“Though writing with long hands was what we met in judicial practice, it is important to switch to digital as the world has gone technological.”
This analog system of recording court proceedings may not have been unconnected with the excitements that greet some judges each time they are to proceed on annual vacation which usually occurs towards the end of each year.
Supporting Judges annual vacation, the Vice Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association, Port Harcourt branch, Barr CB Ekey once maintained that the stress in manual writing by judges also make them deserve some rest.
Barr Ekey said the stress attached to manual writing is capable of causing judges to slump if they do not take proper time to rest.
