It has long been the attitude of the various registries of High Courts in Nigeria to always bill and mandate litigants to pay certain amount of money based on the amounts/damages claimed as stated on their originating processes and failure to pay is tantamount to refusal by the registries to accept such court’s processes for filing no matter what or how urgent the cause or the filing is or might be.

The registries have all the while been relying on the provisions of the Rules of their respective Court which provides that certain amounts of money have been prescribed to be paid upon the ‘RECOVERY’ of certain sum of money. I had a similar experience in relation to a client of mine and after that, I conducted research on the subject and I discovered that truly and shockingly, those registries of the Court (especially as it concerns majorly the High Courts) have been acting under wrong interpretation and misunderstood the provisions and intendment of the Rules of the Court and have therefore been billing wrong and illegal fees on the litigants and their lawyers, though, this money is paid into the government’s account, yet, it is illegally billed and collected and amounts to an extortion of citizens. This paper therefore calls on all litigants and lawyers as well as the appropriate institutions to stand up for their rights and the rights of others who cannot speak by challenging this illegal practices with passion and showing corruption a way out of the court’s system.

First and foremost, I must state here that this kind of situation, in my humble view, is really a great shame, embarrassment, disgrace and disappointment and is contrary of what a Court of law stands for as ‘the last hope of the common man’! Also, the Court is a court of law, court of equity and court of justice! The Court, with due respect, is not a business enterprise! In fact, it is much more disheartening that the Registry of the Court would refuse and deny a litigant (who has approached the Court for justice in a cause against another person) access to justice only because of the money (which is illegal, unjustifiable and amounts to perversion of the cause of justice) which the Registry has (without any legal justification) mandated him to pay!

Furthermore, for instance and for the purpose of clarification, Appendix 2 of the Schedule of the Rules of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019-herien after referred to as the Rules of the Court- (which is similar to the provisions under the High Court of Federal Capital Territory- Abuja (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2018) which the Registry of the Courts have always misconstrued and misinterpreted (with due respect to them) provides thus

‘APPENDIX 2

FEES PAYABLE N

For the recovery of a specified sum-
(a) Not exceeding N20,000 ……………….. 1,000.00

(b) Exceeding N20,000; but not above N100,000 …………………….. 1,500.00

(c) Exceeding N100,000; but not above N1,000,000 ………………………… 2,500.00

(d) Exceeding N1,000,000 per N100,000 or part of it ……………………………….. 1,500.00

(e) Maximum fee …………………………………………………………………. 50,000.00

(f) Claim in foreign currency shall be converted into the local currency as assessed above.’

(Underlined word is mine for emphasis)

With due respect to the Court’s registries, I humbly submit that the word ‘RECOVERY’ as used by the Rules of the Court above in law refers to (in respect of the fees) the fees payable when such assessable fees have been decided by the Court in favour of the litigant in the judgment or order delivered in his favour and or when an appeal in such matter has expired and or the right of appeal of the other party has been finally exhausted (i.e. judgment sum) and not for the litigant or their counsel to pay such an amount at the time that he is filing his suit!

For more clarification (without any iota of doubt to buttress my legal arguments and submissions in this respect), the Black’s Law Dictionary (8th Edition) at page 1302, defines the word ‘RECOVERY’ (which is a legal terminology) thus ‘The regaining or restoration of something lost or taken away. 2. The obtainment of a right to something (esp. damages) by a judgment or decree. 3. An amount awarded in or collected from a judgment or decree’. (Underlining is mine for emphasis).

Therefore, all the above definitions are to the effects as I have submitted above that the said prescribed fee is only assessable and payable only when judgment is delivered in the favour of the litigant and when he is to recover the judgment sum from the other party (since all moneys are only payable to any party through the Registry of the Court according to the Rules of the Court) whether where there was no appeal or the time of appeal has expired or the right has been exhausted by the other party against whom the judgment or decree or order was made and not at the initial time of filing the said suit in court! This would also show and prove that the Registries of the Courts that have been billing in this manner have been much more interested in the ‘litigant’s money’ without having rendered any service to him rather than for his ‘justice’ in his cause! In my humble view, it is absolutely wrong and unjustifiable for the Registry of the Court to refuse litigants to file their court’s processes at the time of filing, unless and until he paid the illegal and unlawful fees which was assessed as a result of the misinterpretation and misapplication of the provisions of the Rules of the Court.

Furthermore, it is important to point out that, right of litigants to access the Court of Law is in my humble view a constitutional right which a Court of law is to afford the litigant. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)-herein after referred to as the Constitution- has established and guaranteed this socio-economic right of the citizen and has prohibited exploitation of the human resources of the citizens in any form whatsoever (the contrary of what the Registry of this Court has done to my client) in section 17 of the Constitution thus

‘17.—(1) The State social order is founded on ideals of Freedom, Equality and Justice.

(2) In furtherance of the social order—

(a) every citizen shall have equality of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law ;

(b) the sanctity of the human person shall be recognised and human dignity shall be maintained and enhanced ;

(c) government actions shall be humane ;

(d) exploitation of human or natural resources in any form whatsoever for reasons other than the good of the community shall be prevented ; and

(e) the independence, impartiality and integrity of courts of law, and easy accessibility thereto shall be secured and maintained.’. (Underlining is mine for emphasis).

For instance, on the 10th day of December, 2019, I had a similar experience where the Registry of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja, had mandated my (indigent) client to pay the sum of fifty-thousand naira (N50,000.00) only on the sum of one hundred million naira (N100,000,000.00) only sought as damages in his reliefs against the Defendants. My client had to sell his i-pad and phone to meet up with the payment and the deadline of filing the suit. The questions that I am asking the Registry of the Court are: what will happen where the suit is stuck out or dismissed?! Has anything been recovered?! No! What will happen to the said money already paid (which is nonrefundable) where the Court awards less or no fees in my client’s favour if he had paid the sum of fifty-thousand naira (N50,000.00) only on the sum of one hundred million naira (N100,000,000.00) only sought as damages in his reliefs and the court awards him the sum of one hundred thousand naira (N100,000.00) only or no damages at all?! Will such fund (which supposes to generate interest over the long period of time) be refunded back to him (even if the suit takes as long as few years as two or more years to get to judgment)?! These and many more questions can come to mind to prove that such interpretation of the Rules of the Court by the Registry of the Court was wrongly interpreted and applied! This indeed is in my humble view, an official and deliberate extortion, exploitation, illegality and perversion of the cause of justice! I am already taking up this matter against the Registry! The court, in my humble view, is a court of justice and not a business enterprise! I humbly submit!

Finally, I therefore hereby advise all litigants to be vigilant and to always challenge this illegal fee whenever they are billed by the Court’s Registry as I am sure that all the High Courts in Nigeria have similar provisions in their Rules but which have been wrongly misinterpreted. I therefore call on the Registries to bring themselves back to the correct interpretation and stop this wrong and illegal charge. All lawyers too must rise up to challenge this illegal and extorting fees and to promote the cause of justice and easy access of litigants to court and to justice and justice must be cheap, easy and affordable for a common man in the society!

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