The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has joined legal stakeholders to harp on the need for journalists to have free access in the coverage of virtual court proceedings, saying that section 36 of the Nigerian constitution gives the media rights to cover public hearings, including the courts.
Prof Osinbajo made the call while delivering a keynote address during a webinar conference organized by a news media platform, Gavel International.
The Vice President viewed the webinar as an important conversation on the questions around reporting virtual court proceedings.
He however stated that for virtual proceedings to work satisfactorily, the judiciary may need to do away with technicalities and concentrate more on substantive justice.
Prof Yemi Osinbajo said that reporting of court proceedings is a crucial exercise of the right to fair hearing, a cornerstone of which is that hearings must be held in public.
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He said that both the traditional media, and operators in social media now have the same constitutional protections and responsibilities in the coverage of news as the definition of freedom of expression covers all.
Contributing, Chief Wole Olanipekun said that the media must be entitled to court documents, including classified documents.
The learned Silk who was represented by his son Bode, cited a decision of the Court of Appeal, saying “To ensure that the evidence communicated to the court is communicated to the public, the media must be given access to the evidence, which the court itself has”.
Chief Olanipekun argued that the level of transparency of any virtual hearing would be enhanced if the recording of the proceeding is made available to the press.
In his remark, a human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana said that Nigeria is not prepared for virtual hearing of cases.
He disclosed that the first gridlock was the unconstitutional validity of virtual hearing by Nigerian courts raised by senior lawyers.
Mr. Falana pointed out that the judiciary has refused to make a special case for intervention funds for Nigerian courts to put in place the necessary machinery and infrastructure to facilitate virtual hearing of cases.
The webinar conference had in attendance, senior lawyers like former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dele Adesina, SAN, Publisher, Anti-Corruption Journal, Mr Richard Akinnola, and former Chairman, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof Chidi Anselm Odinkalu.
