The Doctrine of Precedent and its Application in Nigerian Appellate Courts: Consistency, Departure, and Legal Certainty

The doctrine of stare decisis is foundational to common law legal systems, providing predictability and consistency through the binding authority of appellate court decisions on lower courts. In Nigeria, the Supreme Court occupies the apex of the judicial hierarchy, with its decisions binding on all lower courts. However, empirical analysis suggests that the application of precedent in Nigerian courts is characterised by inconsistency, selective citation, and undisclosed departure from binding authority. This research conducts a systematic analytical and empirical examination of precedent application in Nigerian appellate courts, focusing on the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal from 2015 to 2024. A mixed-methods methodology was employed, combining doctrinal analysis of binding and persuasive precedent principles with a quantitative study of citation patterns in 200 randomly sampled appellate decisions across contract, criminal, and constitutional law domains. Secondary sources include English and Australian comparative precedent scholarship, judicial process literature, and Nigerian legal method texts. The study develops an original analytical framework for measuring precedent consistency in Nigerian appellate adjudication. Findings reveal significant incidences of undisclosed departure from binding precedent, selective citation of authorities supporting preferred outcomes, and inconsistent treatment of Privy Council decisions from pre-independence era. The research contributes original empirical and doctrinal analysis and recommends judicial writing training, enhanced law reporting infrastructure, and consideration of a structured precedent departure procedure. Keywords: precedent, stare decisis, appellate courts, legal certainty, Nigeria.