SAN Wants E-Filing Of Cases Postponed
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has called on the Federal High Court (FHC) Headquarters to postpone its planned June 20, 2025, deadline for ending manual filing of new cases at its Lagos Judicial Division, citing concerns over infrastructure, access, and readiness.
The senior lawyer made his position known in a statement on Monday titled “Urgent Appeal For Suspension Of Digitization Of Federal High Court Registry.”
THE WHISTLER reported that the Federal High Court launched its electronic filing (e-filing) platform at the Lagos Division, with plans to make it fully operational from Monday, June 23, 2025.
According to a statement by the Chief Registrar, Sulaiman Amida Hassan on Thursday, the Lagos Division will stop accepting manually filed cases from Friday, June 20.
The court stated that pending matters instituted before the go-live date will continue under the manual system until judgment is delivered and those matters are finally disposed of.
The statement warned that lawyers who misstate claims or under-declare documents filed, leading to under-assessment of fees, will be required to pay the difference plus a N10,000 penalty for each filing.
Among other instructions, legal practitioners have also been directed to obtain Legal Mail accounts through the Nigerian Bar Association’s portal, as a prerequisite for accessing the e-filing platform.
Reacting to the development, Adegboruwa called for caution, noting that the court filing process does not involve just document uploads, but also touches on fundamental constitutional rights of litigants and their counsel.
He argued that the court’s 2025 annual long vacation, scheduled from July 28 to September 16, offers a more appropriate window to roll out the digitization policy. “The implementation of the e-filing regime can be delayed till the new legal year in September 2025 to give enough time for lawyers and litigants to prepare themselves for the new system,” he said.
Adegboruwa raised the concern of the inadequacy of the current Lagos registry facilities, which he said are ill-equipped to handle the volume and technical demands of e-filing.
He suggested that implementation should ideally begin only after the Lagos Division relocates to its ultra-modern permanent complex. He also questioned the inconsistency of partial digitization.
“It is either we are digitizing the court or we are not. Will litigants file their processes digitally, and judges thereafter conduct their proceedings manually?,” he queried.
“Will it now be possible for lawyers to apply for and obtain certified true copies of records of proceedings, rulings, and judgments digitally?,” he also asked.
Adegboruwa further cited Nigeria’s unreliable power supply and patchy internet access as obstacles that could compromise the initiative, warning that it risks becoming a solution that serves only urban elites while excluding rural and disadvantaged litigants.
The senior lawyer added that many court filings contain private and sensitive material that should not be exposed.
He urged the FHC to maintain manual filing alongside e-filing until the legal community fully adapts to the digital shift.
SAN Wants E-Filing Of Cases Postponed is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
