Section 55 of the Evidence Act 2011

Section 55 of the Evidence Act 2011 – What it Says and All You Need to Know.

Section 55 of the Evidence Act 2011 Provides as Follows:

(1) Either party to the proceeding in any criminal case may produce a certificate signed by the Government Pharmacist, the Deputy Government Pharmacist, an Assistant Government Pharmacist, a Government pathologist or entomologist or the Accountant-General, or any other pharmacist so specified by the Government Pharmacist of the Federation or of a State, any pathologist or entomologist specified by the Director of Medical Laboratories of the Federation or of a State, or any accountant specified by the Accountant-General or the Federation or of a State (whether any such officer is by that or any other title in the service or the State or of the Federal Government), and the production of any such certificate may be taken as sufficient evidence of the facts stated in it.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, any certificate issued and produced by any officer in charge of any laboratory established by the appropriate authority may be taken as sufficient evidence of facts stated in it.

(3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the court shall have the power, on the application of either party or of its own motion, to direct that any such officer as is referred to in the subsections shall be summoned to give evidence before the court if it is of the opinion that, either for the purpose of cross-examination or for any other reason, the interests of justice so requires.

(4) The President may, by notice in the Federal Gazette, declare that any person named in such notice, being an officer in the public service of the Federation employed in a forensic science laboratory in a rank not below that of Medical Laboratory Technologist, shall, for the purposes
of subsection (1) of this section, be empowered to sign a certificate relating to any subject specified in the notice, and while such declaration remains in force subsection (1) of this section shall apply in relation to such person as they apply in relation to an officer mentioned in that subsection:

Provided that a certificate signed by such person shall not be admissible in evidence if, in the opinion of the court, it does not relate wholly or mainly to a subject so specified as in such
notice.

(5) In this section-

“appropriate authority” means the Inspector-General of Police, the Comptroller-General of Customs or the Minister of Health;

“officer” means any officer-in-charge of any laboratory established pursuant to this Act:

“specified” means specified by notice as may be published in the Federal or State Gazette.

Other Relevant Sections:

• Section 51  of the Evidence Act 2011
• Section 52 of the Evidence Act 2011
• Section 53 of the Evidence Act 2011