NIGERIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Abubakar Anafi, Larry Nkwor, Justice Uka-Ofor and Ayomide Abiodun, G. Elias
10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments A party may appeal against an interlocutory rul- ing or final decision of the court either as of right or with leave of the court within specific time- frames defined by law. The matters or issues under which an appeal can lie, as of right are provided for in the Constitution, and they differ within the appellate hierarchy. Where an appeal can lie, only with leave of the court, leave must first be sought and obtained before filing the appeal. Otherwise, such an appeal would not be competent. An appeal may be allowed and granted by an appellate court where: • the lower court made an error of law or fact; • the lower court failed to exercise its discretion properly; • the lower court failed to follow the due pro- cess of law; • the lower court drew an incorrect conclusion from the accepted evidence or did not prop- erly evaluate the evidence; and/or • the lower court’s findings are perverse. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal The procedure for appealing is by filing a notice of appeal in the registry of the court that gave the judgment. As noted previously, an appellant may have to seek leave of court in some cases before instituting an appeal. Civil appeals to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Nigeria must be filed within three months from the delivery of the judgment, and interlocutory appeals within 14 days of the delivery of the ruling. Criminal appeals must be filed within: (i) 90 days in respect of appeals to
ten address. The judgment debtor has a right to respond to the processes of the judgment creditor. If the High Court is satisfied that none of the grounds upon which it may refuse to register a foreign judgment under the Ordinance/Act is present, it may register the foreign judgment as its own judgment. Once registered, and in the absence of any application to set aside the reg- istration, the judgment creditor can proceed with enforcement using the available enforcement mechanisms, such as garnishee proceedings. 10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation The levels of appeal available to a litigant depend on the court in which the suit was instituted and the court’s level in the hierarchy of courts. An appeal from a magistrate’s court can lie, to the High Court of a state. Appeals from the Federal High Court, High Court of a state, and other courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction lie, to the Court of Appeal, while appeals from the Court of Appeal lie, to the Supreme Court of Nigeria which serves as the final court. However, the Court of Appeal is the final appellate court for civil matters arising from the National Industrial Court. Another mechanism available is judicial review – for example, a writ of certiorari (setting aside proceedings), mandamus (compelling the per- formance of an action), and prohibition (issued by a high court to prevent inferior courts from acting beyond their jurisdiction).
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