By Timileyin Ilesanmi
Introduction
The Supreme Court (Mandatory Upload of Electronic Copies of Processes, Record of Appeal, and Other Matters) Practice Directions, 2026 came into force on July 1, 2026, providing new procedures, requirements, and technical and formatting standards for filing processes at the Supreme Court. The most important provisions include the mandatory requirement to upload electronic copies of records and processes through the Nigerian Case Management System (NCMS), as well as the daily penalty for non-compliance with the specified timelines.
Key Provisions
- Submission of Electronic Copies of Records and Processes: Electronic copies of all records and processes must be filed by each party or, where they are represented by counsel, their counsel.[1] Where a matter is pending before the Supreme Court, each party is mandated to submit electronic copies of all records and processes filed by and served on that party in the proceeding.[2]
- Use of Legal Mail: All lawyers are required to obtain a Legal Email, as the NCMS may only be accessed through the legal mail system issued by the Supreme Court or such other electronic mail system as the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court may designate from time to time.[3]
- File Formats, Requirements and Formatting: Only PDF files that are Optical Character Recognition (OCR)-enabled and contain a table of contents properly hyperlinked to each section of the document should be submitted.[4] This is to facilitate accessibility, text searching, and navigation to specific sections of the document.
The practice direction also provides specific page layouts, fonts, font size and line spacing for all documents. All pages of processes to be filed either digitally through the NCMS or physically at the Court Registry must have a 2.54 cm margin on all sides.[5] The page must also be in standard A4 size (210 mm x 297 mm), and text must be in either Arial, Times New Roman or Tahoma,[6] with a font size of 14 pt and 1.5 line spacing. Documents that do not comply with these formatting requirements will be rejected on the NCMS or at the Court Registry. Where they are not rejected, they may nevertheless be deemed by the Court to have been improperly filed.[7]
- Document Naming Convention:[8] For the purpose of uploading documents to the NCMS, all documents must be named as follows: Appeal Number-Description of Process-Filing Party-Document Reference Number. The file name for each document must contain the appeal number, a brief description of the process, the identity of the party and a sequential document reference number assigned by the filing party, commencing with ‘001’ for the first process filed by that party and continuing consecutively for each subsequent process. Where the appeal number contains a slash (“/”), the slash must be replaced with an underscore (“_”).
Examples of the required file names are:- SC_1123_2026-Record of Appeal-Appellant-001.pdf
- SC_0357_2024-Appellant’s Brief-Appellant-002.pdf
- SC_1103_2025-Respondent’s Brief-Respondent-002.pdf
- Submission requirements: The required copies of records and processes to be filed must be submitted through the Court’s designated online portal at https://efiling.courts.gov.ng or such other portal as may be designated by the Court Registrar from time to time.[9] However, subject to subsequent direction to the contrary by the Chief Justice, submission of electronic copies must be made not later than 30 days before the hearing, and hard copies of the e-filed documents should be submitted to the registry within seven days but not later than 48 hours before the hearing.[10] All electronic copies of processes in a matter must be submitted through the NCMS for the matter to be scheduled for hearing.[11]
Further, the party or counsel submitting a document or process shall make a declaration on oath in the manner provided on the submission portal, affirming that the electronic copies submitted are true and complete copies of the documents filed in Court.[12] The day on which the electronic copies of processes or records are uploaded onto the NCMS platform and an Appeal Number is generated shall be deemed to be the date of transmission of the Record of Appeal.[13]
- Cost for Transmission and Upload of Records on the NCMS: Unless a person has obtained leave to proceed as an indigent person,[14] compilation and transmission of the Record of Appeal will cost ₦500,000 or such other amount as the Chief Justice may from time to time prescribe, in addition to such other fees as may be assessed by the Registrar for the compilation and transmission of the Record of Appeal.[15]
Unless a person has obtained leave to proceed as an indigent person, any party requesting the transmission and uploading of additional copies of the Record of Appeal must pay a fee of ₦250,000 or such other amount as the Chief Justice may from time to time prescribe.[16] - Introduction of New Default Fees: Notwithstanding any previous penalties for late filing under the Supreme Court Rules, 2024, where a party or counsel fails to file any process within the prescribed period, the defaulting party or counsel will be required to pay a penalty of ₦10,000 for each additional day of default.[17]
Conclusion
The development, launching and adoption of the Nigeria Case Management System (NCMS) is yet another step towards a digitalised judicial system. This development is necessary as the legal profession embraces technology to promote timely justice delivery, improve case management, facilitate access to court records, and enhance the overall administration of justice.[18]
For parties and counsel, strict compliance with the directions, specifically concerning document formatting, file naming, typography and submission timelines, is necessary to properly transmit records and upload court processes using the NCMS. Non-compliance with these directions can result in the rejection of court processes, a finding of improper filing, and payment of late-filing penalties.
The Supreme Court Practice Direction 2026 underscores the need for legal practitioners to not only embrace technology but to also lead as drivers of change for a more efficient justice delivery system, facilitating faster access to court records and better administration of justice.
REFERENCES
[1] Paragraph 5, Supreme Court (Mandatory Upload of Electronic Copies of Processes, Record of Appeal, and Other Matters) Practice Directions, 2026.
[2] Paragraph 4
[3] Paragraph 3
[4] Paragraph 6
[5] Paragraph 19(1)
[6] Paragraph 19(2)
[7] Paragraph 19(3)
[8] Paragraph 7; First Schedule
[9] Paragraph 8
[10] Paragraph 10
[11] Paragraph 11
[12] Paragraph 9
[13] Paragraph 14
[14] Paragraph 17
[15] Paragraph 15(1)
[16] Paragraph 15(2)
[17] Paragraph 18
[18] Paragraph 1, Supreme Court Practice Direction 2026.