COVID-19 in Nigeria: Falana Advises Nigeria Judiciary to Hear Applications Via Skype, Zoom App

The lockdown measures put in place by the federal government and some state governments to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria is affecting everyone and the Judiciary is not left as well - all court cases in the country has being suspended in compliance to orders from health authorities until further notice.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana Source: Channelstv.com

 Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, wants the courts to re-open cases and hear applications using Skype or Zoom application for virtual meeting.

The human rights activist in his letter titled, “Request To Re-Open Courts To Attend To Bail Applications And Fundamental Rights Applications,”  said it is important that the National Judicial Council (NJC) review its decision to suspend court sitting till further notice.

This review, as reported by ChannelsTV, “ is necessary in view of the fact that motions for the bail of many criminal suspects and applications are pending in several courts in all the states of the federation and in the federal capital territory.”

The letter also added that decision to re-open courts is also necessary to ensure that thousands of people who are either awaiting trial or under investigation are not subjected to unlawful detention.

Skype and Zoom are video conferencing applications users, business owners, brands, companies use to connect easily and quickly communicate and have access virtually with co-workers, clients using instant messaging, screen and document sharing, and informal audio/video calls.