Justice Ministry Digitizes 331,000 Pages Of Documents In 8 Weeks

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, has reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to building an efficient, accountable and digitally driven justice sector capable of delivering timely outcomes to Nigerians.

Fagbemi made this known while speaking in Abuja at the launch of the Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) by the Federal Ministry of Justice.

The event also featured the inauguration of newly renovated staff facilities, including a clinic, sports centre, crèche and staff canteen.

The ECMS is a digital platform designed to enable the ministry to create, process, approve, store and retrieve official documents electronically, marking a major shift from manual and paper-based systems.

Delivering the keynote address, Fagbemi described the ECMS launch as a clear departure from unstructured and manual information management, noting that digitisation would eliminate long-standing bureaucratic delays in the justice system.

“By digitizing our correspondences, emails, and legal documents, we are dismantling the bureaucratic bottlenecks that have historically slowed the wheels of justice,” he said.

According to the AGF, the move to a paperless environment is central to the ministry’s digital transformation agenda and aligns with Pillar 5 of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP25), the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu, and the National Policy on Justice.

“These frameworks are unequivocal: justice institutions must be efficient, accountable, digitally enabled, and capable of delivering timely outcomes to Nigerians,” Fagbemi stated.

He stressed that the ECMS goes beyond technology, describing it as a governance reform that strengthens institutional memory, improves decision-making, secures official records and enforces discipline, accountability and efficiency in workflow.

“Our goal is clear: to build a justice sector that is modern, efficient, and above all, citizen-driven,” he added.

Fagbemi also said the ministry has prioritised staff welfare and workplace modernisation under his leadership, in line with broader service-wide reforms led by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

He expressed appreciation to the Aig-Imouekhede Foundation, Prof. Koyinsola Ajayi of Olaniwun Ajayi & Co., ministry staff, sister ministries and development partners for their support.

In her welcome address, the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Mrs Jeddy-Agba, disclosed that within eight weeks the ministry had scanned and uploaded 6,241 physical files comprising 331,297 pages onto the 1Gov Enterprise Content Management System.

She added that the ministry had also achieved 100 per cent official email coverage for staff, conducted multiple levels of ECM and digital skills training, activated departmental champions, and established standard operating procedures for document tracking, approvals and workflow management.

“For too long, service delivery in the Ministry has been weighed down by challenges associated with managing physical documents, manual correspondences, and the inherent delays of a paper-heavy system,” she said.

According to her, the ECMS “go-live” ceremony marks the end of that era and the beginning of a modern, paperless culture that prioritises efficiency, transparency and improved service delivery.

Dignitaries at the event included the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack; the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretaries from the Ministries of Interior, and Health and Social Welfare; as well as heads of agencies under the Ministry of Justice.