ADMISSIBILITY OF ELECTRONICALLY GENERATED EVIDENCE IN NIGERIA: A GENERAL OVERVIEW*ADMISSIBILITY OF ELECTRONICALLY GENERATED EVIDENCE IN NIGERIA: A GENERAL OVERVIEW

Abstract

The transformation introduced by technology in judicial proceedings cannot be overemphasized especially with regards to electronically generated evidence. Before the enactment of the extant Evidence Act in Nigeria, proof and admissibility of electronic evidence was a really contentious issue that lawyers had to slug out in court during civil and criminal trials. Some cases that would have been won easily but for proof of electronically generated evidence were lost. The replacement of the repealed Evidence Act, 2004 with the current one of 2011 incorporated several innovations that included the parameters for admitting electronic evidence in judicial proceedings. The present research is an attempt to review electronic evidence, its forms and the various laws that set the tone for the admissibility of electronically generated evidence in Nigeria.