Electronic Evidence in Nigeria

As earlier promised in a previous blogpost, below is the link to my article: 'Electronic Evidence in Nigeria'. Electronic evidence is steadily assuming or has assumed a very important position in the adjudication of disputes or cases, be they criminal or civil. Anything done on the computer or the internet usually leaves traces or digital footprints which can serve as evidence in legal proceedings. Electronic evidence can therefore aid the investigation and solving of crimes by law enforcement agents. All this is possible because we are living in an age where most of the things we used to do manually are now done on computers, computer-like devices, or with the aid of computers and computer networks (such as the internet). For instance, using a debit card, the customer can use an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to obtain access to their account, and to withdraw money anywhere in the world. With an internet-enabled cellphone, the customer can authorise the transfer of money to anybody anywhere in the world at any time, as well as making purchases using the same internet-enabled cellphone.

The article therefore highlights; with the aid of Nigerian and foreign cases, the importance of electronic evidence and why the Nigerian lawyer, to be considered to be competent, ought to be sufficiently literate in the technical issues regarding electronic evidence so as to understand and make use of electronic evidence. The article concludes by recommending the inclusion of a core course on electronic evidence in the curriculum of legal education in Nigeria.

Click to read the article: Electronic Evidence in Nigeria. The article is published in the Digital Evidence and Electronic Signature Law Review. Clicking on the link will take you to the law review's website, scroll down the page a little to find the article.

Please after reading endeavor to leave your comments or thoughts about the article here on this blog and also try to share it on social media platforms and to your friends(including lawyers and non-lawyers). Issues addressed in the article are of utmost importance not just to lawyers but to any person in the 21st century who uses a cell-phone, the bank, computers, computer-like devices, or computer networks (such as the internet).

Note, the article is in PDF(Portable Document Format) file format so if you cannot read PDFs on your device(cell-phone or tab) you can download it to your device and then copy it to a laptop or desktop computer which has a PDF reader/viewer installed and read the article there.