Nigeria
The justice system of Nigeria
A federation whose police force and prison service are federal, but whose courts, prosecution and criminal law run at both levels — with three substantive criminal-law traditions.
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Nigeria is a federal republic under the 1999 Constitution, which is the supreme law. The Second Schedule sets an Exclusive Legislative List for the Federation, a Concurrent List for both tiers, and leaves residual matters to the states (section 4(7)). Criminal law is not an item on the Exclusive List, so it is largely a state/residual matter: each state has its own substantive criminal code — the common-law Criminal Code in the southern states, and the Penal Code in the northern states.
From 1999 to 2001, twelve northern states extended Sharia to criminal matters by adopting Sharia penal codes; a 2004 Human Rights Watch report records that "by 2002, twelve states had adopted some form of Shari'a into their criminal legislation", with Zamfara the first. These codes apply principally to Muslims and coexist with the federal Constitution. Their content and application have been the subject of contested human-rights assessment, which this site records by attribution rather than stating as fact.
The same idea, explained generally
- What is justice?
Justice is the principle that people should be treated according to rules that apply equally to everyone, decided by bodies that are authorised, constrained, and answerable. This guide explains what that means institutionally.
- What is the rule of law?
The rule of law is the principle that everyone, including the government, is subject to law that is public, applied equally, and interpreted by independent courts. This guide explains what it requires and what it does not.
- 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.
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.
Human Rights Watch · Institutional (self-description) · 2004 · link verified 2026-07-27
The chapter of the 2004 Human Rights Watch report describing how Shari'a was extended to criminal law in northern Nigeria, read directly. Supports, by dated attribution, that from 1999 to 2001 twelve northern states adopted Shari'a criminal legislation (the report: "By 2002, twelve states had adopted some form of Shari'a into their criminal legislation" — Zamfara first, the Governor introducing Shari'a for criminal law within a year of 1999). Cited for the fact and dating of the sub-national criminal-law variant; the report's own assessments of that legislation's human-rights effects are contested and are not asserted here as fact.