THE IMPORTANCE OF ELECTRONIC EVIDENCE AMIDST THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC by Paul Kalejaiye

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has led to a shutdown of so many sectors worldwide, including Nigeria, and the legal sector has not been left out of the equation. The pandemic has led to several companies and individuals having to resort more to the use of electronic platforms in order to communicate with each other, discuss and enter into business transactions, enter and execute commercial agreements, hold meetings, and even in recent times, hear court proceedings and deliver court judgments. Some of the electronic platforms that have been widely used are Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp and Facebook. It is certain that a lot of legal issues will arise from the use of these electronic platforms during and after the period
of the pandemic. Some of the likely issues in Nigeria will be whether a company’s extra-ordinary general meeting held via any of the electronic platforms complies with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act with respect to the place of meeting 2 and whether the courts can order remote hearings despite the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) on court proceedings to be held in public.

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