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NITDA, Judicial Institute to deploy IT skills for efficient social justice

Mr Kashifu Inuwa, Director- General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), says deployment of IT skills will help in curbing corruption and improving efficiency in the judicial system.

Inuwa said this on Friday in Abuja when he received in audience the Administrator of National Judicial Institute (NJI), Justice Salisu Garba, and his team.

According to him, it is necessary to train and retrain judicial officers on the full understanding of IT skills for them to derive and enjoy maximum value from digital technology.

“The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now making evaluations and decisions for humans, based on available data which has made it important for the judiciary to adopt IT in its work processes.

“We live in a world where technology can be used to profile and make recommendations.

“It is, therefore, very important to incorporate the use of IT into our judicial system for enhanced work performance,” Inuwa said.

He further added that the appropriate deployment of IT in the judicial system would enable courts better adjudicate on matters with the increased size of their case loads.

According to him, IT skills will help to speedily clear backlog of cases as well as accomplish the research and planning tasks necessary for proper administration of justice.

He said: “To enjoy the benefits of digital technology, judges need to have an in-depth understanding of digital literacy skills, which is the responsibility of NJI.”

Inuwa further disclosed that in line with the actualisation of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), full introduction and implementation of digital transformation by the agency for all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) had been in top gear.

“We have set up Digital Transformation Technical Working Groups in several MDAs, while a few more will be inaugurated soon.

“Your institute can be taken on board in this laudable initiative and inaugurated as well if you are ready,” he said.

The director-general implored the institute to include the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) in its curriculum to ensure protection of data in the judiciaal system.

Earlier, NJI administrator disclosed that part of the institute’s objectives was to conduct trainings for all judicial officers and support staffers.

He said that the institute’s Judiciary Information Technology Policy Committee, saddled with the responsibility of formulating policies, had been faced with challenges but, however, believed that enhanced IT skills would bridge the gap.

“The essence of this meeting is to collaborate with NITDA in developing our IT skills in order to build our workforce’s digital skills as well as develop virtual court proceedings and conferences so as to reduce our backlogs,” Garba said.

NAN

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