According to a post on Facebook by Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN after attending the beginning of Court of Appeal’s new legal year, 2023-2024, the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) , Honourable Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem during presentation of score card of performance in 201/202 legal year, the number or appeals pending at the Court of Appeal as at August 31, 2022 are 34,037.
The report from Mazi Afam Osigwe reads;
The 2022/23 Legal Year Celebration of the Court of Appeal took place today, September 12, 2022 at the Court of Appeal Headquarters, Abuja.
The NBA President , Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN delivered an address on behalf of Nigerian Bar Association while Chief Godwin Kanu Agabi, SAN did same on behalf of Body of Senior Advicates of Nigeria (BOSAN). Abubakar Malami, SAN the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation equally delivered an address.
In her address, the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) , Honourable Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem stated that 6,017 appeals and 13,896 motions were filed in the 20 divisions of the Court during the 2021/22 legal year. According to the PCA, the Court determined 5,188 appeals and disposed of 8,018 motions . While 3,951 of these appeals were dismissed , 1,237 were allowed . Thus the number or appeals pending at the Court of Appeal as at August 31, 2022 are 34,037.
Continuing the PCA noted that by comparison, in the 2020/21 Legal Year, a total of 5,092 appeals and 9,249 motions were filed at the various Divisions of the Court. It is therefore worthy of note 4,647 more Motions were filed in the Court in the past in the immediate past Legal Year than on the year preceding it.
The PCA lamented that there are many moribund appeals clogging the Court’s dockets as a result of want of diligent prosecution. An impartial audit of such appeals revealed that some of them were baseless . The abuse of the blanket right of appeal contained in Sections 241 and 242 of the 1999 Constitution by unscrupulous litigants received attention and was recommended for Constitutional amendment for redress .
The PCA noted the deployment of Internet infrastructure throughout the Court’s Divisions and residential quarters of the Justices of the Court has been truncated by lack of funds for its optimization. It was suggested that robust budgetary allocation will enable the Court to rapidly extend the systems in actualization of the Court’s digital scheme .
