Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has charged court employees to embrace proficiency in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) so as to speed up justice delivery in the country.
Justice Mohammed said this at the opening ceremony for the 2016 Refresher Course for Secretaries, Protocol Officers, Court Registrars, Process Clerks and Bailiffs, at the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja, with the theme “Building Capacity of Court Employees for Optimum Performance.”
The CJN said: “The 21st Century now affords us several tools that can assist us in the performance of our duties. These include electronic equipment and software, which speed up justice delivery.”
He said the specially designed case management system, Nigerian Case Management System (NCMS), was already being utilised at the Supreme Court of Nigeria and there were plans on ground for a nationwide replication on a phased basis.
He also enjoined court employees to shun every form of corruption and act in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Court Employees. He said court employees must act right to dispel media reports that “our courts have become havens of apathy, with a decline in staff discipline as well as the exhibition of poor attitude to work, and persistent absenteeism from the office for no just reason.
“Let me be firm in stating here that, though good and hardworking staff among you will continue to be encouraged and rewarded, those that exhibit bad character, perpetuate corruption or act in a like manner, will surely be dealt with appropriately.”
In her opening address, the administrator of NJI, Justice R.P.I. Bozimo, stressed that the category of participants for the workshop were indispensable to the judiciary. In addition to the fact that they are the first point of contact with the public, their roles are “supportive and complementary to the role of judicial officers”, therefore, their performance “directly impacts on the effective, efficient and expeditious dispensation of justice,” Bozimo said.
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