A Critical Examination of Major Changes heralded by the Nigerian Evidence Act 2011

Prior to the enactment of the Evidence Act 2011(2011 Act), there were calls by Judges, Legal Practitioners and the Justice System stakeholders for a review, amendment or total repeal of the old Evidence Act of 1945(the old Act). The major crux of the calls was that the old Act had become archaic, backward-looking and obsolete, as it failed to meet the needs or demands of current economic activities which now go beyond mere paper-based transactions and transcend into the realm of e-commerce and e-banking. As a response to the above stated calls, the Nigerian federal legislature, the National Assembly, in the exercise of its constitutionally inhered law-making powers under section 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) (The Constitution) recently repealed the old Act and in its place enacted a new Evidence Act 2011. The 2011 Ac was signed into law by the then Nigeria's President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on 3rd June 2011, thus heralding the coming into effect of a new legal order in the law and practice of evidence in Nigeria. It is our intention here to examine some of the far-reaching innovations or changes brought about by the 2011 Act.