60 Nigerian judges on seven-day study tour

Chief Justice Sam Rugege (R) shares a light moment with Justice Phillips Ayotunde, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Nigeria, who is leading a team of visiting Nigerian judges (also in the photo) outside the Supreme Court, in Kigali yesterday. Rugege briefed the delegation on how the Rwanda judiciary has gone through several reforms over the past few years.

A delegation of 56 Nigerian judges from the state of Lagos have applauded the level at which the Rwandan Judiciary is using technology in handling court cases.

Speaking after meeting with Chief Justice Sam Rugege at the Supreme Court in Kigali, yesterday, the visitors said they would also adopt use of technology back home.

“The level at which Rwandan courts are using technology is way ahead. Back home we just started using technology in our courts, we now have a proper area to consider if we are to adopt external skills,” said Justice Phillips Ayotunde, the chief judge of Lagos State.

Courts in Rwanda use electronic records management system, which includes a case management module, digital court recording system, electronic filing system with components such as electronic payment of court fees, and video conferencing system.

According to Justice Ayotunde, her team is in the country on a seven-day study tour.

Prof. Rugege briefed the delegation on how the Rwanda Judiciary has gone through several reforms over the past few years.

He also said Rwandan judges are interested in using Lagos court judgments as reference in the jurisprudence since part of Rwanda’s legal system is civil like that of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the delegation had earlier this week met with the Minister for Justice, Johnston Busingye.

They appreciated the role of traditional courts (Gacaca) which tried Genocide cases and mediation committees (Abunzi) as alternative home-grown solutions in dispute resolution.

Busingye showed how Rwanda dealt with the legal issues after the 1994 Genocide and highlighted that Gacaca was the best possible solution to handle over two million cases which were waiting to end up in courts of law.

60 Nigerian judges on seven-day study tour