ORDINARILY, the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court is specified in Section 251(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (CFRN 1999) and Section 7(1) of the Federal High Court Act Cap F12, LFN 2004, which former section outlines the statutory jurisdiction of the said court thus:
251. (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contained in this Constitution and in addition to such other jurisdiction as may be conferred upon it by an Act of the National Assembly, the Federal High Court shall have and exercise jurisdiction to the exclusion of any other court in civil causes and matters:
• relating to the revenue of the Government of the Federation in which the said government or any organ thereof or a person suing or being sued on behalf of the said Government is a party;
• connected with or pertaining to the taxation of companies and other bodies established or carrying on business in Nigeria and all other persons subject to Federal taxation;
• connected with or pertaining to Customs and Excise Duties and Export Duties, including any claim by or against the Nigeria Customs Service or any member or officer thereof, arising from the performance of any duty imposed under any regulation relating to Customs and Excise Duties and Export Duties;
• connected with or pertaining to banking, banks, other financial institutions, including any action between one bank and another, any action by or against the Central Bank of Nigeria arising from banking, foreign exchange, coinage, legal tender, bills of exchange, letters of credit, promissory notes and other fiscal measures:
Provided that this paragraph shall not apply to any dispute between an individual customer and his bank in respect of transactions between the individual customer and the bank;
• arising from the operation of the Companies and Allied Matters Act or any other enactment replacing the Act or regulating the operation of companies incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act;
• any federal enactment relating to copyright, patent, designs, trade marks and passing-off, industrial designs and merchandise marks, business names, commercial and industrial monopolies, combines and trusts, standards of goods and commodities and industrial standards;
• any admiralty jurisdiction, including shipping and navigation on the River Niger or River Benue and their affluent and on such other inland waterway as may be designated by any enactment to be an international waterway, all federal ports, (including the constitution and powers of the ports authorities for federal ports) and carriage by sea;
• diplomatic, consular and trade representation;
• citizenship, naturalisation and aliens, deportation of persons who are not citizens of Nigeria, extradition, immigration into and emigration from Nigeria, passports and visas;
• bankruptcy and insolvency;
• aviation and safety of aircraft;
• arms, ammunition and explosives;
• drugs and poisons;
• mines and minerals (including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas);
• weights and measures;
• the administration or the management and control of the Federal Government or any of its agencies;
• subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the operation and interpretation of this Constitution in so far as it affects the Federal Government or any of its agencies;
• any action or proceeding for a declaration or injunction affecting the validity of any executive or administrative action or decision by the Federal Government or any of its agencies; and
• such other jurisdiction civil or criminal and whether to the exclusion of any other court or not as may be conferred upon it by an Act of the National Assembly:
Whereas there seem not to be any difficult issue in the construction of Section 251(1)(a)-(o) and (s), same can not be said of paragraphs (p),(q) and (r) of subsection (1) of section 251 of the CFRN 1999, which stipulate thus:
• the administration or the management and control of the Federal Government or any of its agencies;
• subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the operation and interpretation of this Constitution in so far as it affects the Federal Government or any of its agencies;
• any action or proceeding for a declaration or injunction affecting the validity of any executive or administrative action or decision by the Federal Government or any of its agencies; and
A keen follower/observer of legal authorities over the last 10 years would no doubt agree with me that there have been varying dimensions of judicial authorities on the interpretation of paragraphs (p),(q) and (r) of subsection (1) of Section 251 of the CFRN 1999.
Whereas certain authorities lean more on the view that the party before the court determines the jurisdiction in the interpretation of paragraphs (p), (q) and (r) of subsection (1) of Section 251 of the CFRN 1999, other authorities seem to lean on the view that the subject matter is the determinant of the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of the said paragraphs. Some authorities conclude that both party and subject matter determine the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court where a Federal Government or it agency is involved.
The die may seem to have been cast with the authority of NEPA vs EDEGBEINRO (2002) 18 NWLR (Pt.798)79. In this case, the plaintiffs Mr. Edegbeinro and 15 others, before the High Court of Niger State on August 17, 1994, instituted various actions claiming:
• A declaration that the purported termination of the plaintiff vide a letter dated August 10, 1994, from the services of the defendant is irregular, wrongful, null and void and of no effect whatsoever;
• An order reinstating the plaintiff with the defendant and the payment of plaintiff’s salaries, allowances and entitlements from the purported day of termination till reinstatement;
• A perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from harassing, intimidating and violating of the plaintiff’s right.”
The action went on to trial. In the course of his final address to the court, learned counsel for the defence raised the issue of jurisdiction of the trial court. He contended that by virtue of Decree 107 of 1993 amending Section 230(1) of the 1979 Constitution, a state High Court had no jurisdiction to adjudicate in the matter before the court of in view of the fact that the defendant was a federal agency.
In his judgment, the learned trial judge (Bima J), considered the issue of jurisdiction raised before him and decided the issue against the defendant.
Being dissatisfied with the judgment of the trial court, the defendant appealed to the Court of Appeal and there again questioned the jurisdiction of the trial court. The Court of Appeal (Coram: Mustapher, Bulkachuwa and Oduyemi, JJ.CA) upheld the decision of the trial judge on the issue of jurisdiction and for other reasons dismissed the appeal.
On a further appeal to the Supreme Court, the court upturned the judgments of the trial and Appeal Court and held inter alia thus:
“The aim of paragraphs (q), (r) and (s) of subsection (1) of Section 230 was to vest exclusive jurisdiction in the Federal High Court in matters in which the Federal Government or any of its agents was a party. A state High Court would no longer have jurisdiction in such matters notwithstanding the nature of the claim in the action”.
Midway in the in the last decade, the position of the appellate courts seemed to have taken a new dimension with decisions such as the one in the authority of Aso Motel Kaduna Ltd vs Deyemo (2006) 7NWLR pt 978@pg 94, the Appellate Court held thus:
There is no blanket provision in Section 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which confers exclusive jurisdiction on the Federal High Court in suit against the Federal Government or any of its agencies. Regards must be heard to the subject matter….
The Supreme Court in the case of Adetayo vs Ademola (2010) 15 NWLR pt 1215 pg 169 would seem to have laid every controversy to rest when the court held, with reference to where a federal agency is a party to a suit before the Federal High Court but the court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter, as follows:
• Orumor is a Port Harcourt-based solicitor and advocate.
•TO BE CONTINUED
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