THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA

The highest level of Nigeria's Judiciary is the Supreme Court. It is constitutionally vested with the Supreme judicial powers of the Nigerian sovereignty as a member of the comity of nations, for the maintenance of justice within the territory. It also inheres within itself, since 1963, the final appellate judicial authority of the Nigerian Federation.


The Chief Justice and individual justices of the Court, located in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, are appointed through a process that is designed to ensure that the wisdom of the people's of Nigeria for the enforcement and making of the Laws of the Land through their elected President and National assembly are involved in the appointment of any single member of the Supreme Court. Nonetheless, as a minimum, no person can be considered for the office of a justice of the Supreme Court justice except that person must has been qualified to practise as a legal practitioner in Nigeria for, at least, 15 years.

Currently, there justices on the Court are:

	NAME	GENDER
3	Justice Mahmud Mohammed	Male
4	Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen	Male
	Justice Francis Fedobe Tabai	Male (Retired, 2012)
5	Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad	Male
6	Justice Christopher Mitchell Chukwuma-Eneh	Male
7	Justice S. Muntaka Coomasie	Male
8	Justice John. A. Fabiyi	Male
9	Justice Funmilola Adekeye	Female (Retired, Oct., 2012)
9	Justice Suleiman Galadima	Male
10	Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour	Male
11	Justice Nwali S. Ngwuta	Male
12	Justice Mary Peter-Odili	Female
13	Justice Kumai Bayang Akaahs	Male
14	Justice Stanley Shinko Alogoa	Male

JURISDICTION OF THE SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court occupies a special role in upholding the sovereignty of Nigeria. It is the highest Court in Nigeria as it is the final appellate court where every judicial contest started in any court in Nigeria cannot go beyond. All other courts in Nigeria are below it - with the Court of Appeal occupying the next rank immediately below the Supreme court.


The Supreme Court deals majorly with matters on appeal from lower courts which have gone through the Court of Appeal. Together, those matters form the appellate jurisdictions of the Court. In addition, the Court also handle some special classes of matters which can only be started and finished in the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Matters in the latter group which form the original jurisdiction of the Court include:

1. dispute between the Federal Government and one or more States of the Federation Republic of Nigeria;

2. dispute between 2 or more states/federating units of the Federal Republic Nigeria; and

3. any other original jurisdiction conferred upon the Supreme Court by  the National Assembly.   

End of code