Lawyer Wants Review Of Evidence Act

A Port Harcourt based
lawyer and social crusader, Barr. Jackson Assor, has called for the review of the Evidence Act to include audio and video evidence.
Barr. Assor, who stated this while speaking with The Tide in his office in Port Harcourt at the weekend, noted that information technology had transformed the world, consequently, the Act must reflect the current status of technology.
He faulted the non-inclusion of audio and video evidence and pointed out that it was a big setback on justice delivery.
According to him “Our Evidence Act has been reviewed but the non-inclusion of audio and video evidence was blatant oversight”.
He pointed out that the law must be abreast with current developments in the society.
Barr. Assor said that much of what was in the evidence Act was imported from English Legal System.
Over the years, the Nigerian Legal System has grown and the growth is not reflected in our laws,” the lawyer noted.
Barr. Assor said video and audio recordings would facilitate the delivery of justice.
The legal practitioner, expressed regrets that justice delivery was slow and had sometimes proved difficult to access.
He urged the state judiciary to be proactive in justice delivery.

Chidi Enyie

L-R: Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, Mrs Fatou Bensaoda, National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke (san), President Goodluck Jonathan and Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mukthar, at the international seminar on imperatives of observance of human rights and international human law norms in internal security operations in Abuja , recently. Photo: NAN