FCT High Court Unveils Plans To Deploy Technology For Enhanced Service Delivery

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory as part of steps towards enhancing its operations, has introduced an initiative – the electronic affidavit application system – (e-affidavit) – to replace the earlier manual process that has been adjudged inefficient.

This was the key message during the unveiling of the e-affidavit system on March 31, 2022.

The unveiling event was witnessed by key stakeholders in the FCT judicial circle. During the event, the Chief Judge, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf explained the project, otherwise known as the Affidavit Registry Management System (ARMS) describing it as a major development in the court’s history.

He noted: “Today, history is being made and a significant milestone is being attained as we launch the e-affidavit application in this court.

“This is no doubt, a bold transformational phenomenon created by the modernity of our age that is dominated by a highly sophisticated technology,” he said.

Justice Baba-Yusuf equally stated that such innovation has become imperative and unavoidable in the judicial system in view of the advancement of technology and the availability of the internet in Nigerian courtrooms.

“We all know that somehow and for so many obvious reasons, getting affidavit processed and speedily executed is complex, cumbersome and time consuming.

“Our modern technological age is inconsistent with time wasting. Therefore, to save our valuable time and money, we try in this court to overcome the barrier of getting affidavit executed by introducing this innovative platform of e-affidavit,” he said.

The Chief Judge, also applauded the firm responsible for the development of the platform – Integrated Intelligent Imaging West Africa Limited (iCUBE) – lauding their diligent and innovative execution of the project. According to him, through the platform, one can get his/her affidavit in just a few minutes.

Explaining how the platform is to be managed, Justice Baba-Yusuf explained that a department called that Department of Oaths, to be headed by a Deputy Chief Registrar, has been created to handle the running and management of the platform.

The firm’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Moyosore Niran-Oladunni said the e-affidavit innovation “is borne out of our quest to always add value and improve on our systems in order to be compliant with global trends and developments.”

Niran-Oladunni, who described iCUBE as primarily “a service and technology solution provider,” identified some of the benefits of the e-affidavit system, which he said include the reduction in the turnaround time in the process of an affidavit.

“It has also addressed the problem of integrity of the affidavit as all issued affidavits can be easily verified.

“Also, importantly, it has eradicated perpetual leakages in the revenue of the court by permanently eliminating the role of middlemen and touts.