Order 57 — Computation of Time

(1) Where by any law or any order made by the Court a period is prescribed or limited for the doing of any act, the period, if not limited by the hours, shall be reckoned:
(a) as excluding the day on which the order is made or on which the event occurs;
(b) where the last day of the period is a public holiday the time shall continue until the end of the next day following which is not a public holiday;
(c) where the act is required to be done within a period which does not exceed 6 days, a holiday shall be left out of account in computing the period.

In this Order “holiday” means a day which is a Sunday or a public holiday declared by the Federal or State Government within the Judicial Division of the Court or Registry.

No court process shall be served before 6.00 a.m. or after 6.00 p.m. Service effected after 6.00 p.m. shall be deemed to have been effected the following day, provided that service effected after 6.00p.m. on a Saturday shall be deemed to have been effected on the following Monday.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in these Rules, the Court may, as often as it deems fit, and either before or after the expiration of the time appointed by these Rules or by any judgment or order of the Court extend or adjourn the time for doing any act or taking any proceeding:

(2) Subject to the provisions of any Act or law to the contrary, the Court may suo motu or on application and on good cause shown, extend or abridge any period prescribed by these rules.

(3) If a party fails to comply with any notice or direction given in terms of these rules, any interested party may apply on notice for an order that the notice or direction be complied with within a period that may be specified, and that failing compliance with the order, the party in default may not be entitled to any relief in the proceedings.

(4) The Court may on good cause shown, condone non-compliance with any period prescribed by these rules and extend the time within which to comply.

(1) The Registrar or any other officer in the Registry dealing with processes shall endorse on the original process the date and time of submission and whether the appropriate fee or penalty has been duly paid or not.

(2) The amount so paid or not paid shall be clearly stated on the original process.

(3) Government or Public Institutions may be exempted from paying for processes filed within time.
Provided that any process filed out of time by any Government or Public Institution shall attract the payment of appropriate penalties as may be stipulated.

(4) Where any Government or Public Institution briefs a private legal practitioner to handle the matter on its behalf, such private legal practitioner shall pay all the prescribed filing fees and penalties.

(5) Any process which is to be filed at the Registry of the Court for which the appropriate fees or penalty is not paid after assessment in line with the Rules of the Court shall not be accepted for filing.
Provided that where accepted for filing by default on the part of the officer of the Court in the Registry, such a process shall become incompetent and shall not be allowed to be used for the purpose for which it is intended until the appropriate fee is paid.

(6) Where by the Rules of the Court, a party is required to file a process or comply with a Directive or Order or perform any other act as ordered by the Court within a specified time and the party fails or neglects to do so, the party shall pay a penalty of N100.00 (One Hundred Naira) per day for the first fourteen (14) days of default and N200.00 (Two Hundred Naira) for each day of further default for another fourteen (14) days of default.
Provided that at the expiration of the second period of fourteen (14) days, a party in default shall pay a penalty of N500.00 (Five Hundred Naira) for each day of default until the order or directive is complied with.

(7) Where in any form or manner the default, neglect or failure to file a process or comply with the Directives or Order of the court is due to the fault of counsel or that of the counsel’s agent or servant, the penalty for the neglect or failure to comply with directive or order of the Court shall be paid by the counsel and not by the client. Failure of Counsel to pay such a penalty may be regarded as disobedience to a court order and may be treated as the Court may direct.

(1) Where the Court grants extension of time in line with rule 4 of this Order, the number of days of being in default shall be calculated and stated in writing by the counsel to the defaulting party or the agent of the defaulting party or the defaulting party itself and the correct and appropriate penalties shall be stated and paid.

(2) The onus of calculating and payment of accurate or appropriate penalty for default shall be on the counsel to the defaulting party or on the defaulting party, where the defaulting party is the person who filed the process(es).

(3) Any process filed out of time which violates sub-rules (1) and (2) of this Rule is incompetent and may be so treated by the Court.

(4) In calculating the period of default, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays shall not be included and time shall begin to run from the working day following the day the Order was made.

(5) Notwithstanding rule 4 of this Order, extension of time to regularize a party’s position to file a particular process or processes out of time shall not be granted more than two times.

(1) Where a year or more has elapsed since the last proceeding in a cause or matter, the party who desires to revive proceedings shall give to every other party not less than 30 days’ notice of such intention.

(2) An application for urgent hearing shall be made to the Court by motion ex parte and the decision of the Court on the application shall be final.

An application to set aside or remit an award may be made at any time within four (4) weeks after the award is made and published to the parties but the Court may by order extend the time either before or after it has elapsed.
Provided that it shall be regular and normal for any process to be filed during vacation. Any process filed in compliance with the Rules of the Court during vacation shall be competent.