The Court of Appeal is one of the courts that have adopted a digital and of course, more dynamic approach to its processes. This is reflected in the newly released Court of Appeal Rules, 2021, which came into force on November 1, 2021, thereby repealing the Court of Appeal Rules, 2016.

The 2021 Rules introduced several key innovations to the practice and procedure of the Court of Appeal such as electronic filing, electronic service of processes and electronic transmission of record, amongst others. Other areas of the practice and procedure of the Court that are often left to conjectures, such as computation of time in the event of extenuating events, timeline for response to a motion, amongst others, have now been expressly provided for under the 2021 Rules. This insight shall highlight and discuss the salient changes introduced by the Court of Appeal Rules, 2021.

The advancement of Information and Communication Technology (“ICT’’) due to technological innovations (amongst other factors), continues to unfold new opportunities in different facets of life. In Nigeria especially, one of the merits of the remarkable and progressive advancement in ICT is a significant improvement in justice delivery through the introduction of innovative solutions to identified obstacles to justice delivery such as the nagging issue of delay in justice delivery which is predominantly associated with conventional dispute resolution mechanisms.

Recent events such as the lockdown that followed the outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, have only highlighted the inadequacies and challenges of the traditional conventional justice delivery system in modern times and the rules of procedure put in place. This
development has however alerted the Judiciary to the fact that the traditional system cannot stand the test of time nor promote a speedy justice delivery system in Nigeria, thus necessitating the adoption of more viable, dynamic, and effective inclusions to the system.