Order 7 — Service Out of Nigeria and Service of Foreign Court Documents

(1) The Judge may permit service of an Originating Process or other Court Processes outside Nigeria in any of the circumstances set out in this Rule, if:

(a) the whole subject matter is real estate in the jurisdiction;
(b) any act, deed, will, contract, obligation or liability affecting real estate or hereditaments situated in the jurisdiction is to be construed, rectified, set aside, or enforced;
(c) any relief is sought against any person domiciled or ordinarily resident outside the jurisdiction;
(d) the claim is for administration of the personal estate of any deceased person who at the time of death was domiciled in the jurisdiction, or for the execution (as to property in the jurisdiction) of trusts of any written instrument which ought to be executed according to the law in force in the jurisdiction;
(e) the claim is brought to enforce, rescind, dissolve, annul or otherwise affect a contract, or to recover damages or other relief in respect to a breach of a contract:
(i) made in the jurisdiction; or
(ii) made by or through an agent living or doing business in the jurisdiction on behalf of a principal living or doing business outside the jurisdiction; or
(iii) which by its terms or implications is to be governed by the relevant laws in the jurisdiction;
(f) the claim is brought in respect of a breach committed in the jurisdiction of a contract wherever made, even though the breach was preceded or accompanied by a breach outside the jurisdiction which rendered impossible the performance of the part of the contract to have been performed within the jurisdiction;
(g) the claim is founded on a tort committed in the jurisdiction;
(h) an injunction is sought as to anything to be done in the jurisdiction, or any nuisance in the jurisdiction is sought to be prevented or removed, whether or not damages are equally claimed;
(i) any person outside the jurisdiction is a necessary or proper party to a claim properly brought against some other person duly served in the jurisdiction;
(j) the claim is by a mortgagee or mortgagor in relation to mortgage or property within the jurisdiction and seeks relief on the nature or kind of sale, foreclosure, delivery of possession by the mortgagor; redemption, re-conveyance, delivery of possession by the mortgagee, but does not seek, unless and except so far as permissible in sub-rule (1) (e) and (f) of this Rule, any Judgement or Order for payment of any moneys due under the mortgage;
(k) the proceedings relate to a person under legal disability; and
(l) the proceedings relate to Probate.

(2) In a claim arising out of contract, service of Court Processes by a contractually agreed method is good and sufficient.

(1) When leave is granted to serve an Originating Process in any foreign country with which no pertinent Convention has been made, the following procedure must be adopted:

(a) the Court Process to be served shall be sealed with the seal of the Court for use out of Nigeria, and then transmitted to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Chief Registrar, together with:
(i) a copy translated into the language of the country if not English; and
(ii) a request in Form 7 for its further transmission to the appropriate authorities in that country.
(b) the party wishing to serve a Court Process under this Rule shall file a request in Form 8;
(c) a certificate, declaration, affidavit or other notification of due service transmitted through diplomatic channels by a Court or other appropriate authority of the foreign country to the Court, is good and sufficient proof of service;
(d) where a certificate, declaration, affidavit or any other notification states that efforts to serve a Court Process have failed, the Judge may, on the Claimant’s application without notice, order substituted service, in which case the Court Process and a copy of the Order for substituted service, shall be sealed and transmitted to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs as in Form 9.

(2) Notwithstanding sub-rule (1) of this Rule, a Claimant may, with the Judge’s leave, serve an Originating Process by courier.

(3) These Rules do not preclude a Judge, without assuming jurisdiction over any person outside the jurisdiction in the case listed in sub-rule (4) of this Rule, from notifying that person of the proceedings so that he may make a claim, or oppose, or otherwise intervene in the proceedings.

(4) The cases referred to in sub-rule (3) of this Rule are cases relating to land, funds, choses in action, rights or property, in the jurisdiction.

(1) Where leave is given or is not required, and a Court Process has to be served in a foreign country with which a pertinent Convention has been made then, subject to any special provisions contained in the Convention, the party desiring service shall file in the Registry a request as in Form 10, with such modifications and variations as the circumstances may require:

(a) stating the medium through which service is desirable, either:
(i) directly through diplomatic channels; or
(ii) through the foreign judicial authority; and
(b) accompanied by:
(i) the original Court Process and a translation in the language of the foreign country, if not English, certified by or on behalf of the person making the request;
(ii) a copy of each Court Process and translation for every person to be served;
(iii) any further copies required by the Convention, but where service is to be made on a Nigerian citizen directly through diplomatic channels, the translation and its copies need not accompany the request.

(2) The processes to be served shall be sealed with the seal of the Court for use out of the jurisdiction and shall be forwarded by the Chief Registrar to the Permanent Secretary for onward transmission to the foreign country.

(3) A certificate transmitted to the Court through diplomatic channels by the foreign judicial authority, or by a Nigerian diplomatic officer or agent, establishing the fact and date of service, is good and sufficient proof of service.

(4) The Judge may, in an appropriate case, permit the use of courier for service outside Nigeria.

Where in any civil proceedings in a Court or Tribunal in foreign country with which a pertinent Convention has been made, a request for service of any Process on a person in the jurisdiction is received by the Chief Judge or Chief Registrar from the appropriate authority of that country, the following procedure shall, subject to any special provisions in the Convention, be adopted:

(a) the document server shall deliver the original or a copy of it, together with a copy of any translation of it, to the party to be served;
(b) after service, the document server shall submit the particulars of the cost and expenses of service to the Chief Registrar;
(c) the Chief Registrar shall certify the amount properly payable in respect of the service and forward it to the Chief Judge; and
(d) the Chief Judge shall transmit to the appropriate foreign authority a certificate establishing the fact and date of the service, or indicating reasons for failure to serve, and also notify that authority as to the amount certified under Rule 4 (c) hereto.

Nothing in this Order vitiates or invalidates any other mode of service in a country with which a pertinent Convention has been made, but no mode of service expressly excluded by the Convention is allowed.

In appropriate cases the Judge may order substituted service of any foreign document.