Nigeria
Courts in Nigeria
A single integrated hierarchy topped by the federal Supreme Court, with state high courts and Sharia and customary courts of appeal below — and diffuse constitutional review.
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The superior courts of record (section 6(5)) are, at the federal level, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the Federal High Court, the National Industrial Court (added by the Third Alteration Act 2010) and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory; and, at the state level, the State High Courts, the Sharia Courts of Appeal and the Customary Courts of Appeal. At the apex is the Supreme Court of Nigeria (section 230), whose determinations are final: "no appeal shall lie to any other body or person from any determination of the Supreme Court" (section 235). The Court of Appeal (section 237) hears appeals from the high courts and the state courts of appeal.
The same idea, explained generally
- What do courts do?
Courts resolve disputes, test the state’s case against individuals, interpret law, and review public decisions. This guide explains those functions and why judicial independence is structural.
- What is due process?
Due process is the requirement that the state follow fair, established procedures before it takes action against a person. This guide explains what it typically includes and how it differs between systems.
Sources
Sources
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (text predating the Third Alteration Act 2010)
National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (official text host) · Legislation · 1999 · link verified 2026-10-10
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as published by the National Human Rights Commission. This copy predates the Third Alteration Act 2010: its section 6(5) does not list the National Industrial Court, which that Act added, and its Second Schedule still lists "Prisons" as Exclusive List item 48, which the Fifth Alteration (No. 15) Act 2023 deleted. It is cited for the provisions it states, not as the current text, and no consolidated official text was found. Supports: s 4 and the Second Schedule (the division of legislative power — the Exclusive Legislative List for the Federation, the Concurrent List for both, and residual matters for the States under s 4(7)); Exclusive List item 45 and s 214(1) ("There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof" — a single national police); s 6(5) as enacted (the superior courts of record — the federal Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court and FCT High Court, and the State High Courts, Sharia Courts of Appeal and Customary Courts of Appeal; the National Industrial Court was added in 2010); s 230/233/235 (the Supreme Court as apex, its decisions final); s 237 (the Court of Appeal); s 275/280 (State Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal, headed by a Grand Kadi); s 150/174 (the Attorney-General of the Federation, a Minister and Chief Law Officer, with power to institute, take over or discontinue federal prosecutions) and s 195/211 (each State Attorney-General with the mirror power for state offences); s 215 (the Inspector-General commanding the Nigeria Police Force, with the President's lawful-directions power); s 153 and the Third Schedule (the National Judicial Council, the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Council); and s 81(3)/292 (judicial funding through the NJC and security of tenure). Exclusive List item 48 ("Prisons") is cited only as the position before 3 March 2023. Each provision cited here was re-read in this copy on 10 October 2026 and checked against every alteration Act found: the First, Second and Third Alteration Acts 2010, read; the five Fourth Alteration Acts of 2017–2018, by their titles only (state legislative and judicial finance, political parties and elections, re-election after completing a term, pre-election matters, and minimum ages); and the seventeen Fifth Alteration Acts of 2023, by their titles, with Nos. 6, 9, 12, 15 and 23 read. Two cited provisions changed, as stated above: s 6(5), to which the Third Alteration added the National Industrial Court, and Exclusive List item 48, which the Fifth Alteration (No. 15) deleted. Four were reworded, and what is cited from them still holds: s 81(3), which the First Alteration substituted to add the electoral commission and the National Assembly while still paying the judiciary’s share to the National Judicial Council for disbursement; s 233, which the Second Alteration substituted while keeping the Supreme Court’s exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from the Court of Appeal; and s 292 and the National Judicial Council’s paragraphs of the Third Schedule, to which the Third Alteration added the National Industrial Court. No other provision cited here was altered by any of those Acts. A Constitution (Sixth Alteration) Bill 2026, which would provide for state police, had been sent to the State Houses of Assembly and was not law when checked. Establishes that Nigeria is a federation in which the police are federal, while courts, prosecution and (residually) criminal law operate at both the federal and state levels.
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Third Alteration) Act, 2010
National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (via the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre legislative library) · Legislation · 2011 · link verified 2026-10-10
The Act as certified by the Clerk to the National Assembly, in a scanned copy hosted by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, a Nigerian civil-society legislative library rather than an official publisher. Its schedule records passage by the House of Representatives on 14 December 2010 and by the Senate on 15 December 2010, and approval by the State Houses of Assembly on 8 February 2011. Supports s 2: section 6(5) of the Constitution is altered by inserting, after paragraph (c), a new paragraph (cc), "the National Industrial Court" — adding it to the superior courts of record. Supports only that alteration; it establishes nothing about the court's jurisdiction as later litigated, and nothing about later alterations.