Samuel Akpologun, executive director, Open Society on Justice Reform Project, has urged judicial stakeholders, government agencies, and civil society to prioritise legal data protection in the justice administration system.
Akpologun, made the call in a statement following the global celebration of World Data Backup Day.
World Backup Day is commemorated every 31st of March to celebrate the importance of data protection and security.
With the world moving from analogue to digital, data is the new normal and is now the backbone of justice administration, governance, and human rights advocacy.
Akpologun believes data backup is more than a mere IT requirement; it is an essential component of judicial integrity.
He said if Nigeria’s judiciary hopes to win its perennial battle against systemic inefficiencies, delays, and lack of transparency, proper data management is not just a necessity, but an urgent reform imperative.
Akpologun emphasized that the OSJRP is committed to fostering access to justice, particularly for the poor and vulnerable, but regretted that one of the biggest challenges to effective justice delivery is the poor state of digital infrastructure and data management within the judiciary.
“Poor or unreliable data backup systems have contributed to case file losses, trial delays, and a lack of transparency in judicial processes. Without proper data protection measures, sensitive legal documents would continue to be susceptible to corruption, tampering, and deliberate or accidental destruction.
“The Lagos Judiciary, for example, is still trying to recover from the arson that affected its files and data during the #EndSARS protest, where the oldest judicial building in Nigeria, the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, was razed, leading to the destruction and loss of sensitive files and data. The destruction of some of these data and files would appear premeditated.
“Whatever success in the recovery of data that has been had today was mainly attributed to the partial digitization of records through the Digital Information Litigation (DIL) system that commenced in 2013. Even then, the Lagos Judicial system is yet to fully recover from the unfortunate situation,” he said.
The OSJRP boss noted that a robust data protection framework in the justice sector would prevent loss of critical legal records due to human error, cyberattacks, or infrastructural failures, improve efficiency by enabling quick retrieval of case files, reducing case backlog and adjournments, enhance transparency and accountability by ensuring that court records are tamper-proof and easily auditable and secure personal data of litigants, lawyers, and justice sector workers, reducing risks of identity theft and data breaches.
He regretted that even though the Nigerian Data Protection Act 2023 has since been passed, the implementation of strong data protection policies in the judiciary remains weak, with courts still operating largely with paper-based systems.
He expressed worry that electronic case management is still in its infancy. At the same time, judicial processes have even become more cumbersome and prone to manipulation due to the slow adoption of automated court systems and secure data backup protocols.
The group advocated the full implementation of digital case management systems across all levels of the judiciary and regular data backups of judicial records to prevent losses that could delay justice delivery.
It further recommended adopting cloud-based and secure offline storage solutions for legal documents, stronger enforcement of Nigeria’s Data Protection Act within the justice sector, and capacity-building programs for judicial officers on data protection best practices.