Chairman, Investments and Securities Tribunal Amos Azi has revealed that the Investments and Securities Tribunal has entered into partnership with the National Judicial Council (NJC) for the on- boarding of IST into an E-filing portal that will enhance the Tribunal’s case management.
Azi, who said this when he played host to the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market, added that with E-filling it would be easier for cases to be filled from anywhere in the world making the process of case filling less cumbersome and more cost effective.
The chairman also pleaded with the members of the committee to ensure that the act establishing the IST is amended in such a way that only lawyers with cognate experience in the Capital Market are appointed to head the Tribunal while lawyers with cognate experience within the Tribunal are appointed as Chief Register of the Tribunal
In his remarks, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market Honourable Solomon Bob applauded the Tribunal saying, the simplified rules of business adopted by the Tribunal is what the other courts in the country should emulate, noting that the ability of the Tribunal to dispense Justice within the 90 days stipulated time frame is a big plus for the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
The House of Representatives Committee Chairman and indeed all the committee members decried the poor accommodation where the Tribunal operates from as its National Headquarters promising to do everything within their powers to see to it that a befitting accommodation is allocated to the Tribunal within the Federal Capital Territory by the FCT administration.
In a related development, the Chairman, Judicial Information Technology Policy Committee (JITPCO) Honourable Kashim Zannah has described the Investments and Securities Tribunal as a serious organisation that can use ICT as a game changer especially in the area of e-Filling of cases at the Tribunal.
Honorable Zannah who is also the Chief Justice of Borno state stated this when the Chairman, Investments and Securities Tribunal paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
He emphasised the need for the training of staff as the technology used in courts are specialised hence the need for sound training.
He then promised that his organisation would be on the lookout for trainings that can be of benefit to IST staff in order to attain mastery that would always give the Tribunal an edge.
On his part IST Chairman, Amos Azi said the Tribunal’s integration into this state of the art platform will not only streamline the Tribunal’s processes but also significantly reduce the operational costs associated with the traditional case management systems.
He further described the move as a clear demonstration of foresight and efficiency that will serve for many years to come emphasising that the successful implementation of the E- filling system has set the stage for greater cooperation between the IST and the judiciary that would ultimately improve service delivery to all stakeholders in the capital market.