Ogun state Chief Judge laments stolen court virtual session equipment

The Chief Judge of Ogun State, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, has lamented the stealing of equipment bought for virtual court sittings.

Chief Judge Dipeolu said this on Tuesday at the inauguration of the case management and scheduling system, an Information and Communications Technology tool for judges to aid quick dispensation of justice in the state.

She said the state judiciary in 2020 began partial digitisation of judicial processes during the COVID-19 lockdown by adopting virtual sittings for court proceedings.

The Chief Judge explained that the stolen equipment was bought for the state judiciary by the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun, as part of efforts to fully digitise the judicial system for an effective and efficient justice administration system with data-driven technology-based initiatives.

The Chief Judge also called for full autonomy of the judiciary.

She said, “Digitisation, as we all know, is capital intensive and so without judicial autonomy, it may not be achievable. More than ever the need for digitisation is very important now in view of the effect and the new normal situation foisted upon the whole world by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“In the year 2020, after the relaxation of the lockdown, I issued practice directions one and two of 2020 on virtual sittings to reduce to the barest minimum interaction with people generally as the situation demanded.

“In a bid to aid this, the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun, approved and provided equipment in my court as a pilot scheme for virtual sittings, while my brother judges in Abeokuta and other divisions in Ogun State used the Zoom app with their laptops to conduct virtual sittings.

“However, some time ago, thieves broke into my court and stole the equipment. Since then, I have also been using my laptop to conduct virtual sittings. Virtual sitting is a very minor part of digitisation which is very desirable in case scheduling; the only challenge the Ogun State judiciary faces in executing full digitisation is the provision of Internet facility.”