The Court of Appeal has launched a fast track practice direction for the prosecution of cases before it.
The new practice direction, according to the President of the court, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, is a set of directions with the fundamental objective of enabling the Court of Appeal to deal with appeals quickly and efficiently through the introduction of active case management.
She explained that the direction would kick against frivolous applications and allows parties to change lawyers at any time during the hearing of the case without delaying proceedings as its the case before now.
The new practice direction also gives the Court of Appeal powers to decide the management technique to apply to cases.
The direction received approval from the bar and members of the public with the hope that its adoption would yield the desired results.
Fast track appeals include, debt appeals, appeals bordering on corruption, human trafficking, kidnapping, financial crimes and rape.
Others include terrorism and appeals against security agencies in the country and may be applied to any other case before the court.
It is expected that the new practice direction would have positive effects on justice delivery in Nigeria.
Legal practitioners drawn from the bench and the bar were at the formal presentation of the fast-track practice direction.
