A special investigation by the Nigeria Democratic Report (NDR) has revealed that technology, will play an active role in the conduct of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, as the Court of Appeal which houses the Tribunal.

Already, the Q -Soft Denovo technology deployed to the Tribunal has the capacity to Record Audio and Video of Proceedings and Real time Transcription. With this application in place, the era of long-hand writing of proceedings are gone, a source at the Court of Appeal, venue of the Tribunal told NDR reporter.

It was gathered on Wednesday afternoon that all that transpired in court on Monday and Tuesday had been transcribed and submitted to the Registrar of the tribunal. With this development, it would be easier for the judges to review cases and thus promote good justice system.

“The system records digitally and transcribe it”, a source, not mandated to speak to the press informed this online publication on Wednesday.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN on Monday 26th July, 2021 asserted that the launch of Q-Soft Denovo Court Recording System (CRS) will in no doubt enhance Delivery of Justice in Nigeria by reducing delay tactics by lawyers, improve court output, reduce travelling of court witnesses and reduce cost deployment.

According to Ministry of Justice website, Mr. Malami explained at the launch of the technology that the Q-Soft Denovo Court Recording System (CRS), a technology based audio-visual recording and reporting technology is aimed at improving the speed and accuracy of court proceedings.

According to him, “a major challenge to the Nigerian Court system and processes was taking of notes manually which has led to slow dispensation of justice. This phenomenon has further engendered a plethora of issues such as backlog of cases, loss of investment and dwindling confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary”

He revealed that it was against this background that “the Federal Ministry of Justice is collaborating with Funmilayo A. Quadri & Co. to launch the Q-Soft Denovo CRS”.

The learned silk further explained that: “some of the key features of the Q-Soft Denovo Court Recording System include but not limited to audio video, real time Registrar and Judges Annotations, multiple microphones and cameras, customisable reports, analysis and performance evaluation based on key performance indicators and in real-time converts speech to text with 90% accuracy amongst other notable effective features tailored specifically for the Nigerian court system and processes”.

Mrs. Funmilayo A. Quadri SAN, explained that the intention of her team was to help the judiciary and judges to do a better job of dispensation of justice.

She mentioned Malaysia, South Africa, United States of America, United Kingdom and Thailand as some of the countries her team visited to understudy the technology in use in those places. However, the systems in use in those countries could not be replicated because it was very expensive, the system could not be adaptable to Nigeria, complication in maintenance and technicality required and lack of understanding of how the judiciary works.

Mrs. Quadri highlighted some of the advantages of Q-soft Denovo to include but not limited to 100% proudly Nigerian Solution, Doubling of the number of cases heard in court, reducing deliberate delay tactics by lawyers, easy to maintain, Does not require foreign exchange, reduced cost of deployment and reduced travelling of witnesses.

In her remarks, President, Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Monica B. Dongban-Mensem, stated that the launching of the Q- SOFT DE NOVO COURT RECORDING SYSTEM, would speed up dispensation of justice, bolsters public confidence in the institutions of state and makes citizen more law-abiding, knowing that justice will be quick. Thus, driving a harmonious legal relation that helps enforce law and order.

She explained that, before now, writing in longhand was not only acceptable, but was the most effective method of recording court proceedings. She attributed fewer crime rates at the time to a good dispensation of justice. Hence, crimes were lower and fewer people resorted to litigation, allowing for the effectiveness of the justice system. However, she opined that with the rise in litigation, increase in population, election petition and related matters, higher occurrence of commercial transactions and increased patronage of the judiciary had resulted in an increased crime rate.

Already, the technology is being used at the Arbitration Center of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in Abuja, Magistrates courts in Wuse, Jabi and Gwagwalada ,all in the Federal Capital Territory, Lafia and Ibadan.

“One of the key advantages of the system is that it does not require internet, that is why it is very good and easy to use”, a staff of the Court of Appeal who sought anonymity said.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who uses Q -Soft Denovo in his Arbitration Center declined to speak on it when asked about its functionality on Wednesday.