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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is collaborating with the Court of Appeal to deliver comprehensive capacity building for its justices as part of objectives of protecting the country’s democracy and security.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, hinted at the opening ceremony of a 4-Day Capacity Building on ‘IT Infrastructure and Digital Governance’ organised by NITDA for justices of the Court of Appeal this week in Abuja.
“It is imperative for the judiciary as a strategic partner in the development of the nation’s economy to fully embrace the adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in order to improve it’s work processes and enhance productivity”, said the minister who was represented by the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
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He noted that the ungoverned space of the digital age has given rise to challenges and it was important for all justicies 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.
The minister said digital technology can be used for operational excellence as well as for business innovations. He added that technology which is rapidly developing at an exponential rate has been affecting democracy and the civil justice.
He argued that technology is being relied on for information security and is now being used as a powerful influence on our everyday lives.
“We live in an era whereby things that happen online have physical presence in our offline world”, he added.
He 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 vise versa.
“These technologies are unprecedented, changing everything and disrupting the way we do things, so we need to use our law to solve these problems”, said the minister as he urged the justices to harness the potentials of the digital technology in order to derive maximum benefits for the Judiciary system.
“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 added.
The President, Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Monica Bolna’an Dongban-Mensem, while delivering her address said the intervention of the ministry and NITDA DG in organising the training will help close gaps for the justices.
“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.
