On the 29th day of October, 2018, at the Annual Legal Year of 2018/2019 of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory- Abuja, the Honourable, the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory- Abuja, signed a new Practice Direction and issued same into law with the title ‘Practice Direction on Service of Process (es) at the Federal Capital Territory- Abuja’. This paper aims at a review, commendation, criticism and call for compliance by stakeholders. The said Practice Direction is an amendment to the Order 7 of the Rules of the Court, even though, this fact is not directly mentioned in the said Practice Direction. This position of the writer of this paper is verified by the list of arrangement of order which states Order 7: Service of processes. Therefore, the writer of this paper considers this as an omission on the part of the maker of the Practice Direction or the drafter with due respect. By Order 7 Rule 1 (a) of the Practice Direction, the Practice Direction shall apply to all civil and criminal matters relating to service of process (es) by the Court. Also, by Rule 2, the purpose of the Practice Direction is to provide for uniform fees for service of court process (es), mode of proof of service of the court process (es) and uniform fees chargeable for the production of records of the court. Furthermore, according to Rule 3 of the Practice Direction, with effect from the date of coming into effect of the Practice Direction, fees chargeable by the Bailiffs or all Process Servers except Registered Process Servers shall be as provided in the First Schedule attached to the Practice Direction. Furthermore, Rule 4 of the Practice Direction provides the procedures to be adopted by the Bailiff or Process Server outside Jurisdiction of the Court (outside FCT) which are as follows : (a) Depose to an affidavit; (b) Exhibit an affidavit of service of the Bailiff or the local court in the State where service was effected; (c) Exhibit the receipt(s) issued by the transport or airline company through which the bailiff actually travelled or Receipt(s) issued by the hotel(s)/lodge(s) the Bailiff stayed in the course of effecting the service of the process(es). Furthermore, by the provisions of Rule 5 of the Order 7 to the Practice Direction, there is now a procedure to be abided by for the payment of service fees by a party or counsel. This procedure is as laid down in the said Rule 5 thus ‘Pursuant to Order 7 Rule 14(1) of the High Court of FCT Civil Procedure Rule, 2018-

  1. A party or Counsel requiring services of Processes shall pay to the Registrar of the Court the appropriate fee for the service of such process (es) as contained in the First Schedule to this Practice Direction to the Registrar of the Court before whom the matter is assigned.
  2. The Registrar shall on receipt of the said amount, issue to the Party or Counsel, a non-revenue receipt acknowledging the receipt of the said sum.
  3. Thereafter, handover the said sum and process (es) to the Bailiff of the court who shall in turn acknowledge receipt of the said amount from the Registrar.’.
So, it is the observation of the writer of this paper that henceforth, a counsel or party does not deal directly with the bailiff, he might not even know which of the bailiffs served his processes until the service has been effected for his proof of service rather he only deals directly with the court’s registrar and the service fee is only paid to the registrar who issues a non-revenue receipt acknowledging the receipt of the sum and not to be paid into any bank account. Also, it is observed that a party or his counsel can apply for proof of service or the affidavit/certificate of service of the said process for his documentation and he can as well meet the registrar of the court to whom he had delivered the said process to in order to confirm if the service has been effected. He can as well seek to view the notebook of record of service by the bailiff referred to in Rule 6 of the Order 7. Also by Rule 6 of the Order 7, Pursuant to Order 7 Rule 18 of the High Court of FCT, Civil Procedure Rule 2018, the Registrar of every court shall keep an A4 sized, thick back notebook of Record of Service by Bailiff. Information to be contained in the notebook should be in accordance with Schedule 2. The writer of this paper is of the hope that this notebook is readily available and that the various registrars of the courts are aware and have adequate trainings to effect the provisions?! Also, by Rule 7 of the Order 7, all Registrars shall not later than the first week of every month prepare and send to the Office of the Chief Bailiff, a Comprehensive Report of service of process(es) done by the bailiff in their Courts. Finally, by Rule 8 of the Order 7, the fee chargeable by the Court for the production of proceedings shall not exceed the sum of N50.00 per page. This in the view of the writer of this paper relates to Certified True Copy (CTC) of the record of proceedings and no more. This provision should be taken with care and lawyers are advised to be at alert so that this provision is not misinterpreted into being generally applicable to all applications or Certified True Copies. Furthermore, the schedule of fees payable by a party or counsel are defined under Schedule 1. The service fees for serving a process within FCT Metropolis such as: Maitama, Wuse, Asokoro, Wuye, Lokogoma, Apo, Gudu, Games village and Durumi is N2,000.00, however, there shall be an addition of N1,000.00 per defendant (where the address is different from that of the 1st Defendant). Therefore, the writer of this paper observes and submits that the facts that there are many Defendants within the same address or premises but different plots or on different storey buildings will not attract any additional fees. Furthermore, service of process from FCT Metropolis to satellite towns such as: Gwagwalada, Gwarimpa, Kubwa, Zuba, Kwali, Abaji, Karmo, Life Camp, Jiwa, Gwagwa, Dei-Dei, Bwari, Nyanya, Karu, Orozo, Karshi, Mpape and Lugbe attracts the sum of N3,000.00 only, however, there shall be an addition of N1,000.00 per defendant (where the address is different from that of the 1st Defendant). Therefore, the writer of this paper observes and submits that the facts that there are many Defendants within the same address or premises but different plots or on different storey buildings will not attract any additional fees. Also, service of process within Satellite towns such as: Gwarimpa, Kubwa, Lugbe, Gwagwalada, Kwali, Abaji. Karmo, Life Camp, Jiwa, Dei-Dei, Zuba, Bwari, Karshi, Nyanya, Orozo, Karo and Mpape attracts the sum of N3,000.00 only, however, there shall be an addition of N1,000.00 per defendant (where the address is different from that of the 1st Defendant). Therefore, the writer of this paper observes and submits that the facts that there are many Defendants within the same address or premises but different plots or on different storey buildings will not attract any additional fees. Furthermore, service of processes in States contiguous to FCT such as: Niger, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue and Kwara attracts the sum of N15,000.00 only, however, there shall be an addition of N5,000.00 per defendant (where the address is different from that of the 1st Defendant). Therefore, the writer of this paper observes and submits that the facts that there are many Defendants within the same address or premises but different plots or on different storey buildings will not attract any additional fees. Likewise, service in State non-contiguous to FCT such as: Lagos, Rivers, Borno, Kano, Edo, Taraba, Ogun, Oyo, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross river, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Katsina, Jigawa, Adamawa, Yobe, Kebbi attracts the sum of N40,00.00 however, there shall be an addition of N10,000.00 per defendant (where the address is different from that of the 1st Defendant). Therefore, the writer of this paper observes and submits that the facts that there are many Defendants within the same address or premises but different plots or on different storey buildings will not attract any additional fees. Furthermore, it should be noted that a party paying for service or counsel shall by Rule 5 of the Order 7 fill a service form as contained in the Schedule 1 to the Practice Direction and the Registrar shall issue a receipt of confirmation of payment as mandated by the said Rule 5 of the Order 7. Therefore, the writer of this paper submits humbly that any other means of payment laid down including payment into or through bank account(s) is illegal and unlawful as it has no legal basis. On a general note, the writer of this paper commends in no small amount, the great efforts of the Honourable, the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court. This indeed is a very difficult efforts of which the Honourable, the Chief Judge has taken a brave act to undertake. This indeed brings the issue of bailiffs or ordinary clerk asking for a total sum of N7,000.00 or N10,000.00 to serve a court’s process from Kubwa FCT High Court to Byazhin Layout which is just a few kilometers from the court as the writer of this paper had complained about few months a go. The writer of this paper salutes the courage and the daring efforts of the Honourable, the Chief Judge of the FCT. May God Almighty continue to inspire His Lordship towards a better development and sanitation of the FCT Court’s System and the FCT Judiciary. The writer of this paper appeals for an extension of this efforts to the fees of other lower courts in FCT such as the Magistrate Courts, the District Courts, etc. and same appeal goes to the Honourable, the Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the FCT and the President of the Court of Appeal of the FCT as this effort is great in the fight against financial corruption in the court’s system and the judiciary. Furthermore, the writer of this paper also appeals for a continuous monitoring as to compliance with this Practice Direction by the appropriate persons. Nevertheless, lawyers, parties, bailiffs, the Judges, the Registrars, and other registered servicing person(s) are all stakeholders in the implementation of this Practice Direction. It would amount to an act of corruption for a lawyer or party to pay any additional fees beyond and or below the prescribed fees. It is also an act of illegality for any court’s staff or bailiff or Registrar to demand for an addition beyond the prescribed fees or without issuing a receipt of confirmation of payment as mandated by this Practice Direction. So, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission has a role to play. The writer of this paper further recommends that CCTV camera should be affixed to each place where the fees is to be paid and the collector of such fees should be mandated to remit same to the specified  account under the Practice Direction. Furthermore, the writer of this paper is very surprised that the Practice Direction which is not up to or not more than ten leaves could be sold at the price of N1,000.00 only even without a receipt of acknowledgement. The question is who receives the publication fee? The government or a private individual? The same instance occurred at the time of the issuance of the 2018 FCT High Court’s Rules. In these two scenarios, no receipt was issued to the writer of this paper for the payments. So, it is hoped that the same way corruption is fought all around the various areas in Nigeria, same would be extended to the High Court of the FCT by the appropriate law enforcement agencies in the fights against corruption. Finally, the writer of this paper applauds and commends the giant efforts of the Honourable, the Chief Judge of the High Court of the FCT for these wonderful efforts! It is the prayer of the writer of this paper that God Almighty would reward His Lordship’s efforts. Also, other courts are advised to emulate the efforts put forward by His Lordship, the Chief Judge of the High Court of the FCT, in order to sanitise the Court’s system and the Judiciary as a whole. It is also hoped that lawyers and litigants or party paying for service fees would insist on the prescribed fees and report any form of corrupt practices or illegal demand or additional but unlawful demands by any court’s staff or bailiff or registrar to the appropriate authority or law enforcement agency. Therefore, this Practice Direction should be a lawyer’s handbook whenever he aims at service of any court’s process in the FCT, whether such lawyer is within or outside jurisdiction of High Court of the FCT. e-mail: hameed_ajibola@yahoo.com]]>

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