The Federal High Court Headquarters on Thursday set a June 20, 2025 deadline for manual filing of new cases in its Lagos State Judicial Division by legal practitioners.
The court took the opportunity to formally notify all legal practitioners that the e-filing platform will become operational in the Lagos Division effective June 23, 2025.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Sulaiman Amida Hassan, Esq., titled “NOTICE TO LAWYERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC.”
E-filing in Lagos
According to the statement, e-filing will, by June 23, become the standard procedure in Lagos, the nation’s economic nerve centre.
“In view of this, the final date for the manual filing of new cases in the Judicial Division shall be June 20, 2025,” the statement partly reads.
- Hassan stated that all cases instituted prior to the go-live date shall continue to be processed manually until judgment is delivered and those matters are finally disposed of.
“Any lawyer who, either deliberately or inadvertently, understates the amount claimed or incorrectly declares the number or type of documents filed, thereby causing an under-assessment of prescribed fees, shall be liable to pay the balance due together with a penalty of ten thousand naira (N10,000) for each filing,” the statement warned.
- To ensure a seamless transition, all legal practitioners were advised to obtain their Legal Mail accounts before the go-live date, as possession of a Legal Mail address is a mandatory prerequisite for access to the e-filing platform.
“Lawyers can visit https://nigerianbar.ng and apply for their Legal Mail.
“Documents that require an oath must be submitted to the Court via the e-affidavit platform (https://affidavit.courts.gov.ng), and the deponent must appear before the Commissioner for Oaths for the administration of the oath.
“It shall be necessary for each law chamber to upload all relevant documents relating to its registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on the e-filing platform while creating the chambers’ profile.
“Instructional videos providing detailed guidance on the use of the e-filing platform are available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@JITPO-com, and these materials shall also be circulated via the lawyers’ WhatsApp platform,” the statement partly reads.
- According to the statement, a two-day interactive session on the e-filing system will be convened between June 16 and June 20, 2025, with the precise date, time, and venue to be communicated in due course.
All legal practitioners were enjoined to be guided accordingly and to ensure strict compliance.
Backstory
Recall that the Federal High Court of Nigeria had on June 11, 2024, announced its practice directions on the newly introduced Electronic Affidavit (E-Affidavit) for the benefit of litigants and other users.
The practice direction was approved by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, in the exercise of his powers as conferred by Orders 57 and 58 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019 and all other powers enabling him in that respect.
The aim of the practice directions was to ensure data protection in a user-friendly automated system for deposing to E-Affidavits in the courts.
