Appeal

The Nigerian hierarchy determines where an appeal goes.

From a magistrate or district court, to the High Court of the state. From the High Court, the Federal High Court and the National Industrial Court, to the Court of Appeal. From the Court of Appeal, to the Supreme Court. Customary and Sharia courts have their own appellate routes through the customary courts of appeal and Sharia courts of appeal.

The National Industrial Court is the significant special case. Its decisions in civil causes are largely final, with an appeal to the Court of Appeal available as of right on questions of fundamental rights and otherwise restricted, which is a real constraint on employment litigation.

Some appeals lie as of right, particularly on questions of law alone and in defined categories. Others require leave of the court, particularly where the grounds involve questions of fact or mixed law and fact. Filing an appeal that needed leave without obtaining it is a common and fatal error.

Timelines are short and strictly applied. Interlocutory decisions carry a much shorter window than final ones, and an extension of time requires a separate application supported by good reasons.

Three practical realities shape Nigerian appeals.

Time is the first. Appeals take years, and a matter that reaches the Supreme Court may have been running for a decade or more by the time it is finally decided. That reality belongs in any decision about whether to appeal at all.

Stay of execution is the second. An appeal does not automatically suspend the judgment. A separate application for a stay is needed, and until it is granted the successful party can enforce. Judgment creditors who understand this move immediately after judgment, and appellants who do not lose the asset while their appeal is pending.

The third is that most appeals fail on findings of fact. Appellate courts are reluctant to disturb what a trial judge concluded after hearing the witnesses, so an appeal that amounts to disagreeing with the trial court's assessment of credibility rarely succeeds. The appeals that succeed identify errors of law or serious procedural failures.

The record of appeal also matters more than litigants expect. It is compiled from the proceedings below, and an argument that depends on something not in the record cannot be run.

Three ways to challenge a decision, and only one of them goes to a higher court.

An appeal goes upward. A higher court examines whether the lower court erred, on the grounds set out in the notice of appeal, within the time the rules allow.

An application to set aside goes back to the same court. It is used where a judgment was entered in default, or where the court lacked jurisdiction, or where there was a fundamental irregularity. It is usually quicker than an appeal and is the right route for a default judgment.

A review, in the narrow sense available in Nigerian practice, asks a court to correct its own decision on limited grounds such as an accidental slip. It is not a route to reargue the case.

Choosing the wrong one wastes time you may not have, since the appeal clock keeps running while a misconceived application is heard.

Deadlines are the hardest limitation. An appeal filed out of time requires leave and an explanation, and a party who simply missed it may have no route at all.

Appeals are also expensive and slow, and the cost frequently exceeds what is at stake in modest claims.

Findings of fact are largely protected, which narrows what can realistically be challenged.

And fresh evidence is admitted only exceptionally, so a party who did not put their case properly at trial usually cannot repair it on appeal.

For employment matters, the restriction on appeals from the National Industrial Court means many decisions are effectively final, which raises the stakes at first instance.