Abstract
The admissibility of electronic evidence has always been technical, contentious and controversial in Nigeria. Before the enactment of the Evidence Act of 2011, a party wishing to rely on electronic evidence, including emails, computer generated documents, etc., faced an uphill legal task in tendering same before the court. A lot of energy
was wasted in objections to the documents being admitted in evidence. The latest Act would appear to have addressed several issues of admissibility of electronic evidence, essentially by an elaborate definition of document to include electronic evidence. The Act also consciously addressed several other issues of admissibility so much so that
today most decided cases under the defunct statute have become out-dated and redundant. So far, and correspondingly, the courts have been progressive in interpretation of relevant provisions. Consequently, most age- long preliminary objections to the admissibility of electronic evidence became innocuous. However, the matter is not that simple in practice. This paper emphasizes the real basis of admissibility of electronic evidence and the importance of such in trial, assesses the current legal framework and provisions for the admission of such evidence under the Evidence Act 2011 vis a vis the defunct Act, and concludes that there are still contending issues and challenges in the application of extant provisions. In addition, there are the related issues of weight to be attached to admitted electronic evidence as well as the exceptions that call for ingenuity.