*As Privacy Gaps On Application Portal
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Thousands of newly sworn and some previously appointed Notaries Public across Nigeria are unable to be verified or onboarded on the Supreme Court’s Electronic Notary Register (ENR) because the Chief Judges of their respective states and divisions have not signed the required oath forms, findings have revealed, creating a situation where lawyers who have met all the requirements for appointment and have been sworn in are trapped in administrative limbo, unable to access the digital platform that the Supreme Court itself has designated as the official channel for verifying notarised documents.
The development comes even as the Supreme Court has directed all banks, embassies, consulates, government agencies, private institutions, and members of the public to verify notarised documents through the Electronic Notary Register at www.notary.gov.ng before accepting or processing them, meaning that notaries who cannot be found on the system because their oath forms remain unsigned may find their notarised documents rejected by the very institutions the Supreme Court has instructed to use the platform.
Separately, a review of the Supreme Court’s online notary application portal at register.notary.gov.ng has revealed that the platform, which collects personal information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, passport photographs, signature specimens, certificates of enrolment, Bar practising receipts, and payment details, does not contain any data protection or privacy policy, raising concerns about compliance with national data protection standards and the security of lawyers’ personal information.
The Oath Form Bottleneck
According to sources within the Supreme Court’s Notary Department, the bottleneck preventing newly sworn notaries from being verified and onboarded on the Electronic Notary Register is straightforward: the Chief Judges of the states and judicial divisions where the notaries were sworn in have not signed and returned the oath forms.
The oath form is the document that formally confirms that a notary has been sworn in and is authorised to practise. Without the signed oath form being transmitted to the Supreme Court, the Notary Department cannot complete its verification process and cannot activate the notary’s profile on the Electronic Notary Register.
Sources indicated that even lawyers who have completed their registration on the register.notary.gov.ng portal are unable to access the operational notary platform because the oath signing has not been completed. According to the sources, the registration is “undergoing verification and once the review is done, the applicant will receive an update along with the link to access the Notary portal.”
The problem is particularly acute in the Abuja and Lagos divisions, which account for a significant proportion of newly appointed notaries. Lawyers from these divisions have raised concerns about what they describe as a failure by the Chief Judges to prioritise a routine administrative function that directly affects the ability of duly appointed notaries to practise.
Who Is Responsible?
The failure to sign oath forms raises questions about administrative efficiency at multiple levels.
First, the Chief Judges of the affected courts bear primary responsibility. The signing of oath forms for newly sworn notaries is not a discretionary act but a ministerial function that follows directly from the swearing-in ceremony. A Chief Judge who presides over or authorises the swearing-in of notaries but fails to sign and transmit the oath forms to the Supreme Court has effectively completed only half the process, leaving the notaries in a state where they are technically sworn in but administratively invisible.
Second, the court registrars who support the Chief Judges bear operational responsibility for ensuring that oath forms are prepared, presented for signature, and transmitted to the Supreme Court in a timely manner. If Chief Judges are delegating this function to registrars and the registrars are not completing the work, the failure compounds.
Third, NBA branch leaders have a role to play in advocating for their members. Lawyers who have met all the requirements, paid the prescribed fees, and been sworn in as notaries are entitled to expect that the administrative processes necessary to activate their appointments will be completed without unreasonable delay. Branch chairmen and executives who are aware that their members’ notary appointments are stalled because of unsigned oath forms should be engaging with the Chief Judges and court registries to ensure completion.
The situation has prompted some lawyers to question whether the administrative infrastructure supporting the notary system is keeping pace with the Supreme Court’s ambitious digitisation agenda. The Electronic Notary Register represents a significant modernisation of notarial practice in Nigeria, but a digital platform is only as effective as the analogue processes that feed into it. If oath forms remain unsigned on Chief Judges’ desks, the digital platform cannot function as designed.
The Supreme Court’s Electronic Notary Register
The Electronic Notary Register was announced by the Supreme Court as the official digital platform for the verification of notarised documents and access to certified Notaries Public in Nigeria.
In a public notice addressed to all banks, embassies, consulates, government agencies, private institutions, and the general public, the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court stated that the platform was created to support the verification of notarised documents and provide access to certified Notaries Public.
The notice advised all institutions and members of the public to verify notarised documents presented for official, regulatory, commercial, or administrative purposes through the Electronic Notary Register before accepting or processing such documents.
The platform also provides access to duly certified Notaries Public for Remote Online Notarisation and other related notarial services in accordance with extant laws and regulations.
The Supreme Court provided support@notary.gov.ng as the official contact for enquiries, verification support, and further clarification.
The Notary Public Regulations, 2026
In a separate development, the Supreme Court announced that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, GCON, issued the Notary Public Regulations, 2026, on May 21, 2026, pursuant to powers vested in the office under the Notaries Public Act, 2023.
The regulations provide a comprehensive framework for the administration, regulation, and modernisation of notarial practice in Nigeria, covering the operation of the Electronic Notary Register, digital notarisation, remote online notarisation, verification procedures, and the maintenance of notarial records.
The Supreme Court advised all Notaries Public, legal practitioners, institutions, and members of the public to familiarise themselves with the regulations and ensure full compliance.
A copy of the Notary Public Regulations, 2026, is available for public access and can be downloaded from the Supreme Court’s website at www.supremecourt.gov.ng/notary-public.
The development marks a major step in the digitisation of notarial services in Nigeria, with the Supreme Court seeking to strengthen document verification, curb abuse of notarised documents, and modernise the regulation of Notaries Public under the Notaries Public Act, 2023.
No Privacy Policy on Application Portal
While the Supreme Court’s Electronic Notary Register (the verification platform at www.notary.gov.ng) contains a privacy policy setting out conditions for collecting and processing data, a review of the separate application portal at register.notary.gov.ng, where lawyers submit personal information to apply for appointment as Notaries Public, revealed that it contains no data protection or privacy policy.
The portal was opened on April 1, 2026, for eligible legal practitioners seeking appointment as Notaries Public and is expected to remain accessible until June 30. The only materials visible at the footer of the site are links to available services and quick links such as “About Us,” “Contact Us,” and “Support.” There is no privacy policy, no data protection statement, and no terms of service explaining how applicants’ information will be collected, processed, stored, used, or shared.
Applicants using the portal are required to create profiles by providing their names, email addresses, and phone numbers. The application process also requires the submission of sensitive documents and personal data, including passport photographs, signature specimens, certificates of company registration and enrolment, Bar practising receipts, and other supporting documents. Payments can also be initiated through the platform.
The portal therefore functions as a platform for collecting and processing the personal data of lawyers, but without informing those lawyers of the purpose for which their data is collected, how long it will be retained, who may access it, whether it may be shared with third parties, or what security measures are in place to protect it.
NITDA Guidelines and Data Protection Act
The absence of a privacy policy on the application portal appears to conflict with the guidelines for government websites issued by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
Under Article 7.2 of NITDA’s Guidelines for Web Security and Privacy, government websites are required to include a standard privacy policy statement setting out how collected information is used, the circumstances under which such information may be disclosed to third parties, and whether the information is accessible to the public.
Article 10.4 provides that government institutions must exercise diligence when collecting personal information from website visitors and must prominently display a privacy statement clearly stating the purpose for which such information is being collected. The provision further requires government institutions to adopt secure means of collecting high-risk personal information from the public, including banking or payment-related details.
The absence of a privacy policy may also deny applicants the right to know how their personal information is being used, as contemplated under the Nigeria Data Protection Act.
The issue is particularly significant because the portal handles information belonging to legal practitioners and processes documents necessary for appointment into a public legal office. The Supreme Court, as the apex court and the institution responsible for the administration of the notary system, would be expected to set the highest standard of data protection compliance rather than fall below the minimum standards established by NITDA and the Data Protection Act.
The Disconnect Between Vision and Implementation
The Electronic Notary Register and the Notary Public Regulations, 2026, represent a commendable vision of digitising and modernising notarial practice in Nigeria. The CJN’s initiative to create a comprehensive digital framework for the verification of notarised documents, the regulation of Remote Online Notarisation, and the maintenance of notarial records places Nigeria’s notary system on a path toward international standards.
However, the implementation is currently undermined by two failures that are entirely within the power of the judiciary to correct. The failure of Chief Judges to sign oath forms is an administrative lapse that requires nothing more than the Chief Judges performing a function that is already part of their responsibilities. The absence of a privacy policy on the application portal is a technical oversight that can be corrected by publishing a policy that meets NITDA and Data Protection Act standards.
Until both are addressed, newly sworn notaries will remain unable to practise through the digital platform, their notarised documents may be rejected by institutions following the Supreme Court’s own directive to verify through the ENR, and lawyers submitting personal data through the application portal will do so without knowing how their information is being protected.
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