Nigeria: Disclosure & Electronic Discovery & Privilege

For most of the history of civil procedure, a person who stood wholly outside a dispute, who had done no wrong and owed no duty, could not be drawn into a separate action brought solely to extract information from them. This foundational principle, known as the mere witness rule, protected individuals from being compelled to provide information in disputes to which they were not a party.

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence in arbitration raises fundamental questions about the legitimacy of arbitral awards when AI assists in decision-making. Two landmark cases examine whether extensive AI reliance by arbitrators constitutes impermissible delegation of their adjudicative function, and whether existing legal frameworks can adequately address these novel challenges.

Nigerian courts face a growing challenge as AI-generated evidence—screenshots, audio, video, and documents—enters legal proceedings without clear statutory guidance. While the Evidence Act 2011 (amended 2023) governs electronic evidence, it predates generative AI and leaves critical questions about authenticity, reliability, and admissibility of AI-generated content unresolved. Can Nigeria's existing legal framework adequately address deepfakes, synthetic media, and machine-learning outputs in j