Management of Records in the Judiciary of South-Western States of Nigeria

This study investigated records management practices adopted by the judiciary of the old Western State to establish the best practices in the management of legal records. Survey design was adopted while the Legal Records Management Survey Questionnaire (LRMQ) was the main data collection instrument alongside interview and observation checklist. The questionnaire, validated with a reliability coefficient of 0.82 was administered to 1,476 respondents selected through stratified random sampling out of 2,460 court registry personnel in the study area. Response rate was 60% with descriptive statistical techniques used for data analysis. The results revealed a preponderance of legal records (54.6%) among all the categories of records created and used in the studied judiciary. Case files (22.24%) were most widely created/used; with no standard practices in any judiciary of the state as records were created arbitrarily. Filing manuals are non-existence while the records handlers reported being unaware of the National Archives Decree 30 of 1992. Vital legal records were mixed with other documents (63%) and no IT application or disaster management plans/appraisal mechanism. Competent staff are lacking as over 80% had no requisite training. It recommends mainly the establishment of State archival repository to protect legal records permanently and aggressive staff training.