This book, The Nigerian Law of Evidence, is inspired by the author’s lecture notes on the subject at School of Law, Department of Common Law, Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, where he taught for nearly a decade before moving on to the Department of Public Law, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, since 2001. In addition to being a basic text, current and most recently decided cases relating to the subject are cited and particularly the innovation introduced into the amended Act 2011 Cap E14 Laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria. A highly recommended book for law students, law teachers, legal practitioners, judges and magistrates.

The Evidence Act, 2011, repealed the old Evidence Act. In doing so, the new Act introduced some changes in the Law of Evidence. Ever since, there has been an urgent need for scholastic guidance, in the proper approach to the interpretation of the provisions embodying those changes. This is particularly so, as the courts have been issuing contradictory interpretations of these provisions. In his new book, Law of Evidence in Nigeria: Practice and Procedure, the veteran author and urbane man of letters, Professor Simon Uchenna Ortuanya, masterfully plumbs the intention of the draft's persons of the Act. The result is a five-hundred-and-forty-page treatise of redoubtable erudition. The succinct titles of the different chapters are quite captivating just as the logical presentations of ideas are very illuminating. The book bears the imprints of the erudite author's versatility in the Law of Evidence - a course he has taught, admirably, in two public universities years.

Volume 1 on public law provides an introduction to the Nigerian legal system. The various chapters deal with: introduction and sources of law; jurisprudence and Nigerian perspectives; African customary law; Islamic law; comparative constitutionalism and Nigerian perspectives; citizenship, immigration and administrative law; judicial system and legal profession; criminal law, evidence and civil procedure; statutory marriage and divorce laws; customary marriage and divorce; marriage and divorce under Islamic law; matters of children; gender and law in Nigeria with emphasis on Islamic law. Volume 2 has 25 chapters on private law that includes security of the environment and environmental law, land and property administration, commercial business and trade laws, communication, media and press laws, transportation and carrier laws, law enforcement, armed forces and military laws, investments, and intellectual property.

In most jurisdictions, particularly common law jurisdictions, the Law of Evidence is a key component of the legal system as it sets the yardstick for regulating civil and criminal proceedings in courts of law. The annotation of the Evidence Act 2011 undertaken by The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) is a welcomed development for researchers, academics, legal practitioners, judicial officers and the public as previous annotations of the Evidence Act were based on the Evidence Act, Cap E14 Laws of the Federation, 2004. This annotation provides current information on the decided cases and relevant publications on provisions of the Evidence Act. It is particularly unique as it deals with vital amendments of the Act such as the provisions on admissibility of electronic/computer generated evidence which for a long time formed the basis of several judicial proceedings.

This book tracks and critiques the impact of the internet in Africa. It explores the legal policy implications of, and legal responses to, the internet in matters straddling human rights, development, trade, criminal law, intellectual property and social justice from the perspective of several African countries and the region. Well-known and emerging African scholars consider whether access to the internet is a human right, the implications on the right to privacy, e-commerce, cybercrime, the opportunities and dangers of admitting electronic evidence, the balancing of freedom of expression with the protection of intellectual property and how different African legal systems address this tension. This book will be an invaluable resource for a wide range of stakeholders, including researchers, scholars and postgraduate students; policymakers and legislators; lawyers and judicial officers; crime-fighting agencies; national human rights institutions; civil society organisations; international and regional organisations; and human rights monitoring bodies.

This book reviews the use of digital surveillance for detecting, investigating and interpreting fraud associated with critical cyberinfrastructures in Nigeria, as it is well known that the country’s cyberspace and cyberinfrastructures are very porous, leaving too much room for cyber-attackers to freely operate. In 2017, there were 3,500 successful cyber-attacks on Nigerian cyberspace, which led to the country losing an estimated 450 million dollars. These cybercrimes are hampering Nigeria’s digital economy, and also help to explain why many Nigerians remain skeptical about Internet marketing and online transactions. If sensitive conversations using digital devices are not well monitored, Nigeria will be vulnerable to cyber-warfare, and its digital economy, military intelligence, and related sensitive industries will also suffer. The Nigerian Army Cyber Warfare Command was established in 2018 in order to combat terrorism, banditry, and other attacks by criminal groups in Nigeria. However, there remains an urgent need to produce digital surveillance software to help law enforcement agencies in Nigeria to detect and prevent these digitally facilitated crimes. The monitoring of Nigeria’s cyberspace and cyberinfrastructure has become imperative, given that the rate of criminal activities using technology has increased tremendously. In this regard, digital surveillance includes both passive forensic investigations (where an attack has already occurred) and active forensic investigations (real-time investigations that track attackers). In addition to reviewing the latest mobile device forensics, this book covers natural laws (Benford’s Law and Zipf’s Law) for network traffic analysis, mobile forensic tools, and digital surveillance software (e.g., A-BOT). It offers valuable insights into how digital surveillance software can be used to detect and prevent digitally facilitated crimes in Nigeria, and highlights the benefits of adopting digital surveillance software in Nigeria and other countries facing the same issues.

The Digest of Judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (DJSCN), is a legal practice book, which is a comprehensive compendium of Nigerian case law at the apex level of the Nigerian Judiciary. The DJSCN, is produced in four volumes which comprise the judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria for over a period of forty-three years. The first and second volumes cover the judgments of the Supreme Court on Practice and Procedure, Courts, Criminal Law and Procedure and Evidence. The last two volumes cover contemporary issues in different branches of law.