ADMISSIBILITY OF COMPUTER-GENERATED EVIDENCE AND SECONDARY EVIDENCE UNDER THE NIGERIAN EVIDENCE ACT: THE CROSSROAD AND THE WAY FORWARD

Abstract

The advent of technology in business transactions is no longer news. The role of technology in modern day life spans across commercial transactions, personal dealings, and recently, in virtually every area of human endeavour. It is for this reason that courts have taken the forward-thinking approach of setting out a framework that will allow a smooth interplay between electronic documents/ technologically generated documents and law. A critical part of this interplay is the regime for the admissibility of electronically generated evidence. Just like most solutions to emerging problems emanating from the use of technology and law, this regime in Nigeria has espoused more complex legal issues. The overlap between existing admissibility regimes and the post 2011 technology driven admissibility regime for instance has resulted in inconsistent decisions from courts which have in turn provided lawyers with the opportunity to pick and choose which law to rely on depending on the circumstances of the case. This article dissects the challenge and attempts to proffer a possible solution to these issues.